HE ALLEGEDLY DEFRAUDED AN ANTI-CRIME CHARITY THAT HE RAN
A Kansas City, Mo., police officer who ran an anti-crime charity has been indicted by a federal grand jury for a scheme in which he spent more than $300,000 in donations for his own personal expenses.
Aaron Wayne McKie, 46, was charged in a 16-count indictment returned under seal on Tuesday, April 23. The indictment was unsealed and made public on Friday, April 26 upon McKie’s arrest and initial court appearance.
McKie has worked as a police officer for the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department for 24 years, since April 2000. He was assigned as a police officer to the Crime Free Multi-Housing section from 2002 through 2023.
McKie served from 2009 to 2023 as president of Mid-America Crime Free, Inc. (MACF), a non-profit organization that claimed to provide training to persons in the rental housing industry and promote anti-crime programs. He was an officer of the charity for three years prior, from 2006 to 2009.
The federal indictment alleges that McKie devised a scheme to defraud MACF and its donors that began in July 2009 and lasted until October 2023. According to the indictment, individuals and businesses contributed $387,620 to MACF, not including in-kind donations. McKie spent at least $320,060 for his own personal purposes.
The biggest source of MACF funds was an annual golf tournament, “Fairways 4 Fuzz Golf Tournament.” Individuals and businesses donated both money and in-kind donations, such as food and beverages, to MACF via the golf tournament. At least 121 donors have been identified.
From 2009 to 2023, the flyers soliciting donations and players for the tournament claimed the funds raised would enable MACF to provide free seminars to owners of rental properties and train police officers. In reality, according to the indictment, those claims were false. The Kansas City Police Department paid the salaries and expenses of Crime Free Multi-Housing unit officers who may have provided training to landlords; McKie used the majority of MACF funds for personal spending; and the IRS had revoked the organization’s tax exempt status in 2010.
The indictment alleges that McKie used the MACF bank account as his own personal account. McKie allegedly spent most of the money donated for charitable purposes in the following ways:
·$125,989 in travel, entertainment, restaurants, and bars;
·$57,278 in retail and luxury;
·$41,040 in transfers to personal accounts;
·$36,874 in cash;
·$27,279 pre-2016;
·$23,298 in household expenses;
·$8,299 in personal tax payments.
The federal indictment charges McKie with 14 counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering.
Sgt. Phil DiMartino with the Kansas City Police Department’s media unit, provided the department’s following statement after the indictment announcement went public:
“In September of 2023, our department learned of potential fraud on the part of one of our officers and immediately began an investigation. The alleged fraud involved the financial activity associated with a nonprofit, run by an officer, that assisted with the Crime Free Multi-Housing program.
“We immediately placed the officer involved on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation. Our investigators subsequently forwarded the results of the investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s office for its review.”
This federal case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen D. Mahoney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.
