WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — We're digging deeper into the allegations of financial improprieties against former West Palm Beach Police Chief Frank Adderley.
WPTV has learned about an independent audit of the department's finances done four years ago.
Reporter Michael Hoffman looked into the findings after interviewing the auditor who combed through those financial documents.
Back in 2020, a third-party audit commissioned by the city of West Palm Beach looked into the finances of multiple departments of the city, including the police department.
In it, auditor Richard Rivera said he uncovered nearly $20,000 worth of double dipping on timecards, which shined a light on thousands of hours of overtime being paid out. But it went unfixed until this year. So, what took so long? And who or what is to blame?
Four years after the initial discovery of what West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James called "financial improprieties," seven high-ranking members of the West Palm Beach police department are now on administrative leave. Also, one-time police chief Frank Adderley is out of a job.
"This is pretty egregious," Rivera said.
It was back in 2020, Adderley had just started as chief, and Rivera had already started the audit, finding that West Palm Beach Police Department's overtime spending was $1.2 million over budget and that 27% of officers were paid for working overtime twice, once by the vendor and by the city. The findings included one department employee who was paid $66,000 in overtime.
The city's auditor brought up the concerns two years later in March 2022 and again in August 2024 in a memo to Mayor Keith James and city commissioners, saying the recommendations were not implemented. Two months later, James fired Adderley.
Rivera, who has investigated police misconduct for more than 25 years, claims the key issue involves the timecard software used by the department and how it works in combination with the department's other software programs.
"Sometimes they just don't want to talk to each other intentionally," Rivera said, "and sometimes they just can't, and it's a problem in West Palm Beach."
It's a situation that he says could have been fixed years ago.
"It was the chief's responsibility to take action back then," Rivera said. "Apparently, four years later, nothing has happened, and the mayor did the right thing by holding somebody accountable. Now, it's a matter of letting the new people that are in position to do the job and clean up the mess."
Hoffman reached out to the city and mayor's office for comment and was provided with a statement saying:
"As you are aware, there is an active investigation going on, and as such the city does not comment during this time period."
WPTV has also reached out to Adderley and has not received a response.
