Ex-chief Mooneyham pleads guilty

Kevin Mooneyham, 47, former Woodbury Chief of Police, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Kevin H. Sharp to theft of federal program funds.

During a plea hearing, Mooneyham admitted that, from January 2013 through February 2015, while acting in his official capacity as the Woodbury Police Chief, he submitted fraudulent timesheets for more than $28,000 in overtime hours that he had not in fact worked, David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said.

Mooneyham was indicted on April 22.

The funds used to pay the false overtime hours claimed by Mooneyham were derived from federal grants provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the Governor's Highway Safety Office, specifically for the purpose of enhanced alcohol enforcement efforts.
Mooneyham also admitted during the plea hearing he misrepresented to other officers of the Woodbury Police Department that federally-funded overtime was not available, despite the fact that he had been submitting and continued to submit timesheets for such overtime on his own behalf.

Mooneyham further disclosed that he had misrepresented to a Town of Woodbury official that he had received a large percentage of federally-funded overtime pay because no other officers of the Woodbury Police Department were willing to perform the overtime patrols, Rivera said.

In fact, numerous Woodbury Police officers had expressed an interest in performing such overtime patrols.

Mooneyham will be sentenced by Chief Judge Sharp on Oct. 19. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, plus forfeiture of the proceeds of his offense.

The case was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Abely.