New reporting from the Lansing State Journal is shedding light on a former Lansing police officer who pleaded no contest to an embezzlement charge earlier this year.
Ryan Wilcox racked up more than $100,000 in charges on a city credit card for purchases from Amazon to Party City in just a few years. He also filed for thousands of hours of overtime pay that included time while working for his own lawn care business.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with Lansing State Journal reporter Matt Mencarini who has been following this story for the newspaper. He says the city has stonewalled public record requests and refused to answer certain questions about who knew what when about Wilcox's embezzlement.
"It's been a process. We have had to file numerous requests and go back and back to try to get that information. We still don't know," he said.
Mencarini says he brought the conversation to City Council President Ryan Kost, one of the few public officials who spoke publicly about the case.
"He said he was surprised at how aggressive the city attorney's office was in wanting not to release this stuff, and I think that says a lot when someone within the city who sees appeals from reporters and members of the public and others."
Interview Highlights
On the city dragging its feet on public records request
Any reporter in the state of Michigan and anyone who's tried to get records through the Public Records Act in Michigan knows that there are regular issues with state agencies, city agencies, townships either not providing records or doing things to make that process more difficult. The process with the City of Lansing in this case, for this story, has mainly been about their delays. The law requires them to respond within set periods of time. The city has failed to do that in about half of the requests that we sent.
On what he found in records about Wilcox's private lawn care business
I did some reporting on who was at the firing range where he kept his lawn mowing equipment. For about six months in 2022, he was storing the equipment at the police department's firing range, that is police department property not open to the public. I was able, through some of these records requests, to figure out several key department officials, current and former chief and some IA officials, were at the range on days when the equipment was likely there. That was surprising.
On future reporting related to the case
They've not talked to us and granted interview requests. Numerous times since the case has ended, they have not wanted to talk to us. So, it's unclear what their policies are in some of this stuff. It's unclear how many of the charges were inappropriate. There are other charges for other city credit cards that we received that raise questions to us as what is that oversight like? We don't have answers to some of those questions, and we're only getting more questions, and so we're going to keep asking and try to seek answers.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: New reporting from the Lansing State Journal is shedding light on a former Lansing police officer who pleaded no contest to an embezzlement charge earlier this year.
Ryan Wilcox racked up more than $100,000 in charges on a city credit card for purchases from Amazon to Party City in just a few years. He also filed for thousands of hours of overtime pay that included time while working for his own lawn care business.
Matt Mencarini has been following this story for the newspaper and he joins me now. Thank you for being here.
Matt Mencarini: Thank you for having me.
Saliby: Why did it take so long for the city to catch up to someone overcharging their credit card and misreporting overtime? It sounds like this lawn care business was a bit of an open secret there.
Mencarini: That is the big question that we have had since we learned about this last year when he was charged. We got some information about the charges, and the State Police had investigated him for mowing lawns for private business while on the clock for the city. One of the obvious questions is, how could that have gone on in the police department, let alone the detective bureau? And since then, we've tried to answer that question through public records requests to the city and the police department, as well as interview requests to police chief, former police chief, mayor and city officials. Answers have not been forthcoming.
It's been a process. We have had to file numerous requests and go back and back to try to get that information. We still don't know. There is an internal affairs investigation that is ongoing. There's been no indication of when that will resume, and the city, it said they will not proactively release the findings. That would be something that us and others would have to go and get a FOIA request to get.
Saliby: Like you said, you reported that the city tried to block some of this information about the case from being released to the public, and they even violated some open records laws in how they communicated with the LSJ. Why do you think this case has been so touchy?
Mencarini: That's a good question. Any reporter in the state of Michigan and anyone who's tried to get records through the Public Records Act in Michigan knows that there are regular issues with state agencies, city agencies, townships either not providing records or doing things to make that process more difficult. The process with the City of Lansing in this case, for this story, has mainly been about their delays. The law requires them to respond within set periods of time. The city has failed to do that in about half of the requests that we sent.
When they provide records or when they ask for a cost estimate to provide records, they need to give you a timeline, an estimate from their end of how long it will take them to do that. They've not done that unless we pressed them for it. They have denied records for wrong reasons. We've had to appeal to get records. It has been a process. Whether that is more severe or aggressive in this case, I don't really know.
The city council president who hears the appeals seemed to think that way. When I talked to him, he said he was surprised at how aggressive the city attorney's office was in wanting not to release this stuff, and I think that says a lot when someone within the city who sees appeals from reporters and members of the public and others, he felt that this was a more aggressive approach than they had been in the past.
Saliby: You've been following this story for quite some time. What's something new that you've learned recently that was pretty surprising or kind of changed maybe the way the story has been understood?
Mencarini: One of the focuses of the reporting since the criminal case ended has been about whether anyone else in the department knew, whether anyone else doing similar things. And in that, I did some reporting on who was at the firing range where he kept his lawn mowing equipment. For about six months in 2022, he was storing the equipment at the police department's firing range, that is police department property not open to the public. I was able, through some of these records requests, to figure out several key department officials, current and former chief and some IA officials, were at the range on days when the equipment was likely there. That was surprising.
Again, when I talked to the city council president, he told me he has spoken with retired LPD employees, and there was "whispers" of this within the department. So, it doesn't seem like this was much of a secret. The police captain who brought this information to the State Police in 2024 told them there's about 15 years of rumors and jokes about this going on. So, the information we've received through public records requests and reporting and information the State Police has and have had raises the question of who else knew and for how long all of that is in the documents and what others have told State Police.
Saliby: Do you know if there have been any changes at the Lansing Police Department or even in the city to make sure this kind of crime doesn't happen again?
Mencarini: Nothing that we're aware of. They've not talked to us and granted interview requests. Numerous times since the case has ended, they have not wanted to talk to us. So, it's unclear what their policies are in some of this stuff. It's unclear how many of the charges were inappropriate.
There are other charges for other city credit cards that we received that raise questions to us as what is that oversight like? We don't have answers to some of those questions, and we're only getting more questions, and so we're going to keep asking and try to seek answers.
Saliby: Matt Mencarini is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Thank you for joining me.
Mencarini: Thank you for having me.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
