Former KY Fraternal Order of Police official reportedly under investigation over missing funds
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
A former top Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police official and lobbyist who played a prominent role in passing a sweeping anti-crime bill in the Kentucky legislature this year is reportedly under investigation over missing funds from a local FOP lodge in Louisville.
WDRB reported Wednesday that correspondence received by the Louisville TV station showed the state FOP’s general counsel telling members that former Kentucky FOP vice president Ryan Straw resigned this month from his position after members of an investment club he started were unable to recover money they’d given to Straw.
Straw, according to the state FOP’s general counsel, is also the subject of a claim that he withdrew $49,000 from a local Louisville FOP lodge leaving it “nearly broke,” per the TV station’s reporting. A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed to the Lantern that police took a report last week and that an open investigation was passed over to the FBI. An email sent to a spokesperson for the FBI office in Louisville was not immediately returned.
Attempts on Wednesday afternoon to reach Straw at a phone number and email listed for him were not immediately successful.
Straw played a notable role as a lobbyist for the FOP in advocating for the successful passage in this year’s legislative session of House Bill 5, known as the Safer Kentucky Act, an omnibus anti-crime bill that was touted by most Republicans but criticized by stakeholders across the political spectrum. Straw was compensated $7,500 by the Kentucky FOP for his lobbying efforts in this year’s legislative session, according to Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission records.
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