Russ Racop - March 14, 2021
At least six LRPD cops applied for and received federal PPE loans, a/k/a Covid Bailouts, according to information found on PROPUBLICA and ACCOUNTABLE US websites.
The six are Aaron Armstrong, James Hooper, Fred Lee, Larry Mears, Larry Mears, Jr., and Donald Williams.
Like most all LRPD cops , all of these mercenary cops refuse to live in the city of Little Rock (70% of all LRPD cops and 80% of white LRPD cops live outside LR).
LRPD cops must work off-duty in Little Rock and it appears these six claimed the Covid Bailout funds in relation to off-duty work.
We did not find that any of these mercenary cops had a business entity registered with the Arkansas Secretary of State.
None of their personnel files contained any reference to any non-LRPD outside employment.
Surely more than six of the five hundred something LRPD cops had their off-duty, side jobs affected by the the Rona Pandemic yet all were on the LRPD payroll.
No LRPD cop was sent home and removed from duty unless they caught the Rona and had to go into quarantine. And if that was the case, they remained on the city payroll during that quarantine.
Let's move on to the details about their Covid Bailout payments.
❖ Aaron Taylor Armstrong, DOB:10/27/1990, is a resident of Cabot in Lonoke County. He used a Little Rock post office box on his Covid Bailout application. Why would he need a Little Rock post office box when he lives in Cabot? Very suspicious.
Armstrong has been a LRPD cop since 11/13/2017.
❖ James Randol/Randole Hooper, DOB: 5/25/1969, is a resident of Cabot in Lonoke County. He used his Cabot residence address on his Covid Bailout application.
Hooper has been a LRPD cop since 5/25/1990.
❖ Fredrick Earl Lee, a/k/a Frederick E. Lee and Fred D. Lee (see below), DOB: 8/04/1968, is a resident of Sherwood in Pulaski County. He used his Sherwood residence address on his Covid Bailout application.
In 1997, during a drug raid at an apartment complex on Butler Road in Little Rock, a gunfight occurred and Lee was shot in the head and critically injured.
Lee has been unlucky in love as he had been divorced twice.
One wife accused him of infidelity.
Lee was also involved in some domestic violence in 2011 with that wife according to a document sent to the US Attorney General.
That apparently was one factor in that divorce and was certainly a factor in LRPD firing him in 2000.
Lee got that reduced to a 30 day suspension by the Little Rock Civil Service Commission.
Lee has and continues to have issues with his legal middle name.
The Pulaski County Courts use an incorrect middle initial for Lee.
We found a lawsuit that appears to involve him involving unpaid debts.
We have sent a FOI request to the Sherwood District Court for all filings in that matter and will provide an update once those records are obtained.
Not paying debts is a policy violation at LRPD and can result in disciplinary action.
❖ Larry Jack Mears, Sr. DOB: 3/11/1960, is a resident of Benton in Saline County. He used his Benton residence address on his Covid Bailout application.
Mears, Sr. was hired by LRPD on 9/11/1995.
We only found one disciplinary record for Mears, Sr.
❖ Larry Jack Mears, Jr. DOB: 11/3/1987, is a resident of Benton in Saline County. He used his Benton residence address on his Covid Bailout application.
Mears, Jr. voter registration has him residing in Solgohachia located in Conway County.
Mears, Jr. was hired by LRPD on8/21/17.
In 2016, Mears, Jr. was involved in a divorce proceeding (it was granted on. He made allegations that his estranged wife was an abuser of illegal prescription drugs.
The Office of Child Support Enforcement opened a child support case on him in September 2020.
Mears Jr. failed to respond and a motion for a default judgment has been filed.
Mears Jr. lost his home in Conway County in 2018 due to his failure to make the mortgage payments.
Failure to pay debts can get you into hot water and possibly fired from LRPD.
❖ Donald Keith Williams, DOB: 3/11/1960, is a resident of Alexander in Saline County. He used his Alexander residence address on his Covid Bailout application.
Williams was hired by LRPD on 10/28/85. He has a lengthy disciplinary history (see below).
Williams has a lengthy disciplinary history at LRPD.
Perhaps LRPD Internal Affairs and the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas will open investigations into these six LRPD cops getting the Covid Bailout funds.
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Here is a link to an informative article about how participating in the Coivd Bailout program expose borrowers to liability under the under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), a Civil War era statute, that the government has continued to use to combat both government contract and health care fraud. Borrowers must, therefore, remain mindful of the key aspects of the FCA as they use PPP funds and as they apply for loan forgiveness.