Officer Jennie Jenkins, second from left, at an event with children and fellow officers outside the Harrisburg Police Athletic League’s N. 6th Street headquarters.
The office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane filed charges today against Harrisburg police officer Jennie Jenkins, who was placed on administrative leave last October over her alleged misappropriation of funds as the head of the Police Athletic League.
The criminal complaint—which details charges for one third-degree felony and four first-degree misdemeanors, all related to theft—was assigned to Magisterial District Judge Lavon A. Postelle, in whose court Jenkins was arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
In it, the Attorney General’s office alleges Jenkins paid herself $7,000 for work related to PAL and falsified PAL time sheets over an eight-month period beginning in November of 2012. The Harrisburg police department’s own internal investigation of the matter, which was begun last August and concluded with the filing of charges, supported the AG’s complaint, Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter said Tuesday.
At a press conference in city hall Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Eric Papenfuse suggested that Jenkins’ alleged misuse of funds stemmed from a culture of favoritism and poor accountability in the police department, which his administration has sought to eradicate since he took office in January.
“You had individuals given special treatment,” Papenfuse said. He added that the people associated with this culture have left the city, and that “those who said ‘enough is enough’” had risen to positions of leadership in the new administration.
The mayor pointed to Chief Carter as an example, saying the city had “the right leader at the helm.” He declined to name former employees who might have been involved in creating the culture he condemned.
The 43-year-old Jenkins joined the Harrisburg police department in August of 2005, and was appointed president of the Police Athletic League in August of 2011, in the midst of the city’s efforts to revive the dormant charity.
The Police Athletic League, usually referred to by the acronym “PAL,” provides youth mentoring and other community services, relying on police officers to volunteer time in its various programs. The IRS awarded PAL its nonprofit status on Nov. 30, 2012, following an application by PAL the previous July.
The Attorney General’s complaint lists three offenses, all related to Jenkins’ actions in her two years leading the organization. The first offense, charged as a third-degree felony, relates to allegations that Jenkins paid herself $4,000 out of charitable donations to PAL for time she had spent working for the organization. According to the complaint, Jenkins submitted time sheets to The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, a local manager of charitable funds that served as PAL’s account administrator from November 2011 to March 2013.
The second offense, charged as three first-degree misdemeanors, relates to three alleged cases of Jenkins receiving checks totaling $3,000 from PAL’s account with PNC Bank in the spring and summer of 2013 in return for services she provided the organization.
The checks, for $1,600, $900 and $500, were dated May 1, July 16 and August 5, respectively. The first check, for $1,600, noted in its memo section that the payment was for “Jan-Feb Mentoring Pal,” according to the complaint.
The third offense, charged as a first-degree misdemeanor, involves Jenkins’ alleged falsifying of time sheets on 13 separate occasions between November 2012 and July 2013. According to the complaint, Jenkins was paid a total of $875 for hours she claimed to have spent working for PAL when she was actually working for the police department.
On Tuesday, Jenkins’ defense lawyer, Brian Perry, said that his client’s position is that she was entitled to compensation for hours she spent working for the organization. “She was basically running the Police Athletic League by herself,” Perry said. “The whole case is about the hours she put in. There are two questions: was she allowed to be paid? And did she double-dip?”
Perry declined to comment on the complaint’s allegations in the third offense, relating to the falsified time sheets, saying he had not yet seen the documents in question. But he did say that Jenkins reviewed all PAL expenditures with a board of directors, who approved every payment she requested.
Jenkins was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 18 last year, following the Harrisburg police department’s inquiry into her handling of PAL funds. Chief Carter said Tuesday that he opened the investigation after becoming interim chief in August and finding discrepancies in her accounting of PAL and police department hours.
Janice Black, the president of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, said Tuesday that Jenkins brought receipts to TFEC whenever she requested reimbursement for goods and services provided through PAL. She said that investigators had visited TFEC offices and gone over all materials related to the PAL account, and that it was her understanding that there had been nothing inappropriate about payments TFEC had made.
“We had receipts for everything,” Black said.
Black also said that the Harrisburg PAL had received numerous charitable donations in the period that TFEC managed the account, including several from area banks. Jenkins was a “very good fundraiser,” she said.
Mike Dillhyon, the executive director of the National Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, said that Harrisburg’s PAL was awarded a $15,000 grant in 2012 for its youth mentoring program. The grant was to reimburse costs for snacks and other program-related expenses in 2013, but expressly excluded payments to program mentors, who are supposed to be volunteers.
The Harrisburg PAL had to forward receipts and other documentation in order to receive reimbursements, Dillhyon said. He said that his organization had not detected any issues with the Harrisburg PAL’s filings, but did say he had forwarded several documents connected to the 2012 grant to investigators last year.
The Harrisburg PAL is one of numerous members of the national organization, all of which pay a $400 annual membership fee in exchange for benefits including lower insurance costs and free website development.
Years before Tuesday’s criminal complaint, Jenkins faced disciplinary action on two occasions for having a service weapon stolen from her personal vehicle. The first time, the police union blocked any penalties, and the second time, in August 2010, she was placed on desk duty, according to prior reports by abc27.
On Tuesday, Chief Carter would not go into detail about either of these incidents, saying that he was eager not to denigrate Jenkins, who remains on the payroll on administrative leave.
“Our thoughts are with Officer Jenkins,” the chief said. “She’s still a Harrisburg police officer. She has been charged but not convicted, and we should be mindful of that.”
