A Bellevue-based state
trooper accused of padding his hours to secure a more plush retirement has been
charged with official misconduct.
Filing the charge Tuesday,
King County prosecutors contend Lt. William B. Gardiner also “fixed” parking
tickets he and a friend received by lying to the Seattle Police Department and
the Municipal Court of Seattle
. The State Patrol launched
an investigation into Gardiner’s activities in September, weeks before he
retired after 25 years as a police officer. At the time he was assistant
commander of the WSP’s Bellevue district.
Investigators contend
Gardiner, 50, cost the state $14,750 in illegally claimed overtime, which would
have added $3,500 a year to his retirement benefits.
According to charging
documents, an audit showed Gardiner had claimed an exorbitant amount of
overtime compared to other lieutenants at the department.
During the first eight
months of 2011, Gardiner claimed to have worked 482 hours of overtime, about 13
extra hours a week, State Patrol Sgt. John Huntington told the court. His
contemporaries each logged less than five hours of overtime during the same
time period.
Further investigation
showed Gardiner’s overtime claims had increased dramatically during the two
years prior to retirement. Investigators claim Gardiner misidentified the hours
in payroll documents so that they would count towards his retirement benefits,
which were tied to his total pay over a 24-month period.
Writing the court,
Huntington alleged Gardiner lied about working overtime at a variety of high-profile
events, including a U2 concert, a Manchester United soccer game and Seafair.
Each event was considered
voluntary overtime, and is not supposed to be counted when determining a
trooper’s retirement benefit, Huntington told the court. Nonetheless, Gardiner
is alleged to have doctored his timecard so the hours would be included when
his retirement benefits were calculated.
Gardiner is also alleged to
have falsely claimed to have worked several “emphasis” patrols meant to put
more police on the roads during high-risk times or at problematic places.
Huntington claimed
Gardiner’s mobile phone records show he was not conducting the patrols as he
claimed to be. Also, the investigator continued, Gardiner didn’t stop any
drivers during the times in question.
The State Patrol
investigator alleged Gardiner hid his overtime claims from his supervisor by
circumventing an electronic payroll system.
Gardiner is also alleged to
have lied about the circumstances of parking tickets he and a friend received
while in Seattle, and succeeded in getting the tickets dropped.
Ticketed in front of his
daughter’s sorority house in June, Gardiner emailed a city parking enforcement
manager and claimed he was there on “official Washington State Patrol
business,” Huntington told the court. The ticket was canceled; investigators
claim Gardiner was off that day.
On two other occasions,
Gardiner’s personal car was ticketed in Seattle. Gardiner again claimed to have
been in town on State Patrol business to avoid the ticket; in reality,
Huntington told the court, Gardiner was escorting the president of Palau on one
occasion and working elsewhere on the second.
A friend of Gardiner’s –
also a State Patrol lieutenant – was ticketed in June while both men were
attending a party at the Tap Room for a Secret Service agent who was leaving
the area.
In that case, Gardiner is
alleged to have directed his supervisor’s assistant to write a letter claiming
the other lieutenant was attending a meeting with the Secret Service. The
ticket was excused.
Gardiner has been charged
with official misconduct, a misdemeanor. He is expected to appear in King
County Superior Court on May 23.