By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- The Durham Police Department has fired the officer whose $62,583 in overtime claims over the course of about a year sparked an audit and brought down one of the department's deputy chiefs.

Officials announced the firing of Officer Alesha Robinson-Taylor on Thursday morning. The decision, made by Police Chief Jose Lopez, followed a department review.

Robinson has the right to appeal the decision, and city officials expect her to. She has retained local attorney James "Butch" Williams to represent her, City Manager Tom Bonfield said.

The firing came more than two months after Bonfield directed city auditors to look into a complaint about excessive overtime claims in the Police Department.

Robinson-Taylor's claims stood out because they more than doubled her ordinary salary, which from July 8 until Thursday had been $52,656 a year. She had been in charge of overseeing towing and the "secondary employment" or moonlighting of her fellow officers.

Auditors found that while Robinson-Taylor had worked after hours, there was no documentation to support claims she'd worked an average of 79 hours a week.

They also found that former Deputy Police Beverly "B.J." Council had personally signed off on 10 of 12 of Robinson-Taylor's overtime claims.

Council told auditors that since the department wouldn't allow Robinson-Taylor to moonlight, in accordance with policy designed to prevent supervisors from cherry-picking the best outside job opportunities, she was allowing the officer to earn the extra time.

Two officials, Operations Bureau executive officer Capt. Charlene Balch and civilian Administrative Services Bureau Chief Jesse Burwell, questioned Robinson-Taylor's claims and called them to senior commanders' attention.

But Council and Lopez defended the expenditures, even in the absence of supporting documentation, the auditors found.

Officials released the audit on Sept. 30 and announced the same day that Council had put in her retirement papers, walking away from a nearly 28-year career on the force and a $103,455 annual salary.

Administrators have received criticism in some quarters for allowing Council to retire instead of firing her outright. But in either case, she would have left with full retirement benefits.

Under state law, "a local law enforcement officer who is terminated would retain his or her retirement benefit provided he or she is not an elected official," said Heather Franco, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of State Treasurer.

The only exception is for sheriffs and other elected officials who are convicted of major felonies like bribery that are linked to their performance in office.

Given that, the only way to lower the retirement pay of someone in Council's position would be with a demotion, as state and local officials calculate retirement pay based on the average of law enforcement officer's four highest-paid years in a row. The target would, of course, have to accept a demotion.

Robinson-Taylor had been on administrative leave with pay since city officials released the audit. As of Thursday morning, she had been with the department for 12 years.

Meanwhile, Bonfield and a spokeswoman for N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper separately confirmed that the State Bureau of Investigation has begun probing the overtime case. Cooper's office would handle any resulting prosecution.

City officials have turned over all the information auditors gathered during their investigation, Bonfield said.

SBI officials haven't said when they expect to finish. "We can't speculate on a timeline at this point," Cooper spokeswoman Noelle Talley said when asked when the investigation might be complete.

Williams, Robinson-Taylor's attorney, couldn't be reached for comment.