Montgomery County 123cg Sheriff Raymond Kight said he is cutting off requests by his deputies to take outside training in martial arts, shooting and being a bodyguard as part of a taxpayer-funded tuition-assistance program — a program Kight and other county officials are investigating because of allegations of fraud.
Kight said his office has denied five recent applications by his deputies –for a $1,500 yearlong martial arts class geared toward law enforcement officers, a $625 executive protection training class, and a $595 three-day handgun class in North Carolina — because of concerns the money would be misspent.
The county already offers similar training free of charge to its employees, Kight said, and additional training shouldn’t be paid for by the county’s tuition assistance program.
“If they want to take a course like this, they can pay for it themselves,” Kight said.
The $1,500 martial arts class is run by Bando Systems, which is co-owned by Montgomery County police officer Ken Stephens, state records show. Stephens was approved by the commission to be a “teacher” for Bando, county records show.
He could not be reached for comment.
The county attorney and the inspector general opened probes into the county’s tuition assistance program following reports from Kight that the program was being used by a company to subsidize the price of sniper rifles and handguns that were being sold to county public safety officials.
Kight said his office uncovered that county employees were being offered a chance to buy a $1,000 Rock River Arms Varmint A4 SWAT-style sniper rifle for $400 this year and a $500 Glock handgun for $50 last year.
The lawyer for the company, Applied Sciences for Public Safety, has denied any misuse of county funds. The county continues to disallow any funding for courses with the company.
The Examiner first reported that county officials also are looking into possible breaches in the county’s conflict-of-interest ethics rules because two police officers own at least one of the companies involved in its investigation, state records show.
Council President Phil Andrews, D-Gaithersburg/Rockville, said he wants to know whether the county’s Ethics Commission was aware that the two officers were part owners when it granted approval for the officers to work as “senior consultants” for the company.
