This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Unified Police narcotics detective has been charged after departmental audits allegedly turned up evidence that thousands of dollars in cash had gone missing from a fund used to conduct undercover drug buys.
UPD Lt. Justin Hoyal indicated Friday that suspicions arose when auditors, and a subsequent internal probe, discovered that "Detective Kenneth Callahan's records were not accurate."
UPD investigators allegedly found that nearly $8,500 had gone missing or purportedly was misappropriated between October 2013 and January of this year. Earlier this week, those findings were screened by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, which decided to charge Callahan with second-degree felony misuse of public money, and class B misdemeanor for official misconduct.
Callahan, 49, was formally charged in documents filed Friday morning with 3rd District Court. Court documents indicate the setting of a $25,000 bail to be followed by release, but Callahan had not yet been booked into the Salt Lake County jail as of early Friday afternoon.
"While we are disappointed to report that one of our officers has been criminally charged, we feel that it is important that the public understands that we hold our officers to a high standard," Hoyal stated. "The public expects us to police our own officers and we take that duty very serious."
Callahan, a 19-year veteran of UPD and the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office, has been placed on administrative leave pending further proceedings.
A probable cause statement alleges that $8,485 could not be accounted for from the drug buy fund after auditors reviewed more than 40 confidential information receipts allegedly submitted by Callahan for reimbursement of supposed drug buys.
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