Sheriff Duffy Put Drug Money in Secret Account

Sheriff John Duffy, prohibited since June from spending money seized in drug raids without county approval, failed to deposit more than $300,000 worth of drug funds into the county treasury and instead set up a separate, secret account.

The district attorney’s office said Thursday that it will decide this week whether to investigate Duffy’s use of the money, which may violate a county ordinance mandating the money be deposited into the county treasury and requiring the Board of Supervisors’ approval before it is spent.

However, because Duffy may have paid the district attorney’s office a share of the money for its part in the drug seizure program, the state attorney general’s office may be called in to avoid a conflict of interest, said William J. Kelly, the county’s assistant auditor and controller.

Duffy confirmed in an interview this week that he set up the separate account but refused to elaborate. Assistant Sheriff Jack Drown, who is running in Tuesday’s election to replace Duffy, said his boss mentioned starting such an account, and that Drown warned against it.

“He’s been making mystifying decisions for 20 years,” Drown said. “I’m not John Duffy’s keeper.”

Sgt. Glenn Revell, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said Duffy believes that the money is legally under the sheriff’s control.

“These are not county funds, these are federal funds, and it’s our belief that we’re accountable to the federal government for this money, not the Board of Supervisors,” Revell said, adding that Duffy sought and received permission from the Justice Department to set up the separate account.

County Supervisor Brian Bilbray said he is astounded by such logic.

“These are public funds!” he said. “You can’t take checks and slip them into a different bank account. This is the United States, not South America.

“For a man who has years of public service as an elected official, this is one hell of a terrible way to depart the scene,” Bilbray said. “I don’t think there was criminal intent here; I think it was plain stupidity.”

Revell said he does not know how much money has been gathered in the separate account or what it was spent for. The Times had not received its public records request for a breakdown of the drug-fund program as of Thursday. He also ignored repeated requests for telephone interviews, except to chide a Times reporter for repeatedly calling him.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the Sheriff’s Department received $318,865 in drug seizure funds between July 1 and Sept. 30, a period when Duffy should have deposited the money with the county treasury. Overall, the department has received $3.1 million since the drug-fund program began in September, 1986.

County attorneys and auditors already were investigating Duffy’s use of nearly $70,000 in drug funds to pay an attorney in a civil lawsuit. Duffy paid the law firm of Martin J. Mayer to defend himself against lawsuits by six deputies who were disciplined by Duffy for their involvement in activities of the so-called “Rambo Squad” at County Jail in El Cajon.

The cases were settled out of court.

Auditors warned Duffy in June that he was wrong to spend drug money on his attorney. Asked to reimburse the drug fund account, Duffy refused.

Auditor Kelly said that Duffy may be forced to refund the money if county attorneys rule that the payment was illegal. Federal guidelines established in 1984 allowed law enforcement officials to keep money and property seized in drug arrests. Two years later, federal officials ruled that the money could be used “for law enforcement purposes only.”

Although the definition is broad, many police agencies prefer to use the money to fight drug offenders.