Ex-Detroit Police Official Held on Fraud Charges

A former police official suspected in the disappearance of money from a secret $1.4-million Police Department fund was arrested Thursday on fraud charges.

Kenneth Weiner, a former civilian deputy chief who resigned in 1986 amid allegations of a pyramid scheme, was arrested as he stepped off a flight from Los Angeles, FBI officials said. They refused to say how they had learned of his travel plans.

The FBI charged Weiner with wire fraud in a 1986 precious metals investment scheme in which Detroit investors lost thousands of dollars.

Weiner had dropped from sight in recent weeks as the FBI and city officials looked into the $1.4-million fund used for undercover narcotics operations. Weiner had access to the fund from 1980 to 1986 while serving as deputy chief.

Police Chief William Hart has accused Weiner of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the fund and funneling money into phony corporations in California. Records show that a phony California corporation connected to Weiner paid $72,000 in rent on a Beverly Hills home occupied by Hart’s daughter and her husband.

Weiner has not been charged in the disappearance of the money.

Hart has said that he was unaware of problems with the fund, including the rent payments for his daughter, until recently.

Mayor Coleman Young reluctantly turned records of the fund over to city auditors this week, but some documents needed to trace the money were missing. Young initially maintained that turning over the records could jeopardize undercover operations.