2 Lincoln Heights police officers gone;

The Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio)
BYLINE: Quan Truong

Lincoln Heights, OH

LINCOLN HEIGHTS - Two veteran police sergeants named responsible for missing village money are no longer working for Lincoln Heights.

DeAngelo Sumler and Sandra Stevenson served their last day for the department on March 8, Village Manager Robert Bannister said on Tuesday.

Bannister would not say whether the two resigned or if the village fired them. The Enquirer has submitted a public records request to get more details on the separation.

A special state audit released in December found missing funds totaling more than $23,000. About $8,600 of that disappeared from the police department's evidence room and bank accounts between August 2005 and August 2008.

There were three police chiefs during that time: Sumler, Stevenson and Earnest McCowen.

McCowen retired in May 2007. Sumler and Stevenson were working as police sergeants after their brief stints as interim police chiefs.

The other chunk of missing funds, nearly $15,000, was blamed on former mayor's clerk Tamara Cortes, who was fired shortly after the investigation began.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office has decided not to press criminal charges against the four. Whether any civil action will be taken is up to the administration, although the village is currently looking at recovering the funds through insurance claims first, Bannister said.

Stevenson had been working for Lincoln Heights for nearly two decades and Sumler about 13 years. They were making $40,000 and $36,000 a year, respectively. Neither could be reached for comment.

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