Four Pittsburgh police employees have been on paid leave for eight months, and their representatives said Wednesday they still don't know why. Acting police Chief Regina McDonald placed Ganster, manager of the police Office of Personnel and Finance, on a paid but unexplained leave the first week of March, Difenderfer said. Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson said Ganster's status has not changed.
McDonald placed personnel and finance civilian employees Tammy Davis and Kim Montgomery and Officer Tonya Montgomery-Ford on paid leave in February. Donaldson referred questions on their status to Public Safety Director Mike Huss, who declined to comment.
Montgomery-Ford, a master police officer, earned $103,877 in total pay in 2012, according to payroll records. “She's sitting at home getting full pay,” LaPorte said. “There has not been another conversation about it.”
Ganster earned $72,542 during 2012, Davis $44,047 and Montgomery $41,218, according to records.
McDonald has said she suspended the employees until an FBI investigation into the police department is completed. FBI spokeswoman Kelly Kochamba declined to comment.
Davis and Montgomery-Ford were business partners of indicted former police Chief Nate Harper. Davis, Montgomery-Ford, Cmdr. Eric Holmes and Sgt. Barry Budd formed a company — called Diverse Public Safety Consultants LLC — in February 2012 with Harper. Kim Montgomery is Tonya Montgomery-Ford's mother.
Difenderfer said Ganster went to Public Safety Director Michael Huss on Feb. 9 with concerns about spending from an unauthorized account at the Greater Pittsburgh Federal Credit Union. She was one of eight city employees with a debit card tied to a credit union account.
She told investigators that Harper used money from the account to buy riot shields for police during the Group of 20 economic summit in 2009 and outdoor furniture and ashtrays for a deck at police headquarters. Difenderfer likened the credit union to a “petty cash” drawer that Harper used at his discretion. Difenderfer said Ganster went to Huss because she learned money from the credit union account paid for a promotion party for Holmes.
A federal grand jury indicted Harper in March on charges he diverted more than $70,000 from the police department's special events office into a private account and spent $31,986 of the money on personal expenses. He is charged with four counts of failing to file tax returns and plans to plead guilty on Friday.