Ex-Hawaii official accused of misusing police squad

ANNAPOLIS, Md. » A Maryland official who once served in the Hawaii Legislature has been indicted for misusing his police protection squad, including making them wait while he had sex with a county employee in parking lots, using the officers to conceal his affair and having them do errands such as emptying his urinary catheter bag, prosecutors said.

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold was charged with four counts of misconduct in office and a count of fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary, state prosecutor Emmet Davitt announced Friday. "These abuses will not be tolerated," he said.

Leopold, 69, said he will vigorously fight the charges and looks forward to having his side of the story heard.

"When all the salient facts are known, I’m confident that we will prevail," the Republican said by phone.

Leopold served on the Hawaii state school board from 1968 to 1970 and as a Republican in the state Legislature from 1970 to 1978.

The indictment alleges a systematic use of the officers as political campaign workers for his re-election campaign. Leopold regularly required them to place and check on campaign signs throughout 2010, when he ran for a second four-year term.

Officers also drove him to areas where he is accused of removing campaign signs of his Democratic opponent, Joanna Conti, prosecutors said in the indictment.

Leopold directed a police officer to be present at a fundraiser and collect campaign donation checks. He directed on-duty executive protection officers to create dossiers on political challengers, including Conti and Carl Snowden, the indictment said.

In the second half of 2010, Leopold’s sexual encounters with the county employee happened up to three times weekly during regular work hours in the parking lots of Annapolis-area businesses, the indictment said.

Leopold, who is not married, is accused of using the officers’ personal cellphones to call the county employee and requested a second officer to be on duty when attending events with her to conceal the relationship from his longtime live-in girlfriend, prosecutors allege. When he was hospitalized twice for back surgery in 2010, he had the officers work more than 170 hours of overtime — costing the county more than $10,000 — to make sure the woman would not try to see him, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors alleged that he made the police officers and his appointments coordinator empty his urinary catheter bag for him while he recovered from surgery.

Leopold would not talk about the indictment’s specifics, but said the grand jury process can be manipulated and controlled solely by the state prosecutor.

He said citizens can "… assure themselves and have confidence in the fact that I’ve always placed the taxpayers’ interest above all else."