Cops in two cities probed over fed job loans. A deputy chief got $20,832 with a novel reason

The government-backed Paycheck Protection Program was designed to help keep afloat American small business workers of all stripes: truck drivers, barbers, nail technicians, handymen, and many more whose wages dried up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Full-time cops weren’t the typical recipients of Uncle Sam’s aid.

But in South Florida, a group of police officers from at least two departments has come under federal scrutiny for accepting the forgivable loans, the Herald has learned. And one of them — a high-ranking officer with the Opa-locka police department — acknowledges a novel reason for applying for her $20,832 low-interest loan.

Opa-locka Deputy Police Chief Nikeya Jenkins, who earns $110,000 in base salary, told the Herald that she needed the loan in April because her work providing off-duty police protection took a huge hit during the pandemic. Most South Florida police departments, including Opa-locka, allow businesses to hire uniformed cops to work as private security, gigs often coordinated through their cities.

Jenkins says she decided against having the loan forgiven and is now paying it back. “I owe like $9,000 now,” she said.

Examples of well-paid, steadily employed public employees obtaining a PPP loan raise questions about oversight within the COVID-19 relief program, which has been lauded for steadying the economy but is also rife with examples of abuse.

In recent weeks, the Herald has learned, federal authorities have started a probe into possible PPP loans obtained by members of the Opa-locka police department, according to a law-enforcement source. The city, in a statement, stressed that it was “not in a position to determine whether an individual or business met the eligibility criteria” for the loans.

In June, Doral police said at least four police officers had been relieved of duty; a federal investigation, the Herald learned, stemmed from them having received PPP loans. The officers remain relieved of duty “pending the federal investigation,” a Doral police spokesman said Monday.

COVID-19 Relief

The PPP program was created in 2020 to help businesses decimated by shutdowns caused by the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus. The program allowed for the loans to be forgiven, if borrowers followed criteria laid out by the Small Business Administration, or SBA.

Determined to inject money quickly in the faltering economy, the U.S. government waived many traditional requirements lenders normally have to check to issue business loans. The last PPP loan application from the SBA asks applicants — whether sole proprietors, independent contractors or other self-employed persons — to list their gross income, but does not explicitly ask whether there is a steady primary job.

It is a crime to make false statements on applications in applying for the SBA-backed loans. In Jenkins’ case, it’s unclear what representations she made in applying for the “sole proprietorship” loan, although public employees with side jobs can in theory qualify for PPP money.

“There’s nothing here that makes me think immediately there is automatically a violation of the program, but it does raise questions,” said Sean Moulton, a senior policy analyst at the Project On Government Oversight. “This was supposed to be about need. Someone who is making a steady $110,000 — I’m not sure everyone would look at that person as needing this money.”

Because of the loose criteria for PPP loans, government watchdog groups have long raised concerns about fraud, and hundreds of people have been arrested nationally for fraudulently obtaining PPP loans.

In South Florida, that’s included a businessman using PPP money to buy a Lamborghini, a nurse alleged to have lied about his business to get $474,00, used in part to pay a Mercedes-Benz lease and child support, and a North Miami couple that claimed to be farmers to get PPP money.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Florida has charged over 60 people in COVID-19 relief fraud cases, mostly involving the PPP program, making it the nation’s leader in such prosecutions. Those fraud schemes have totaled loan requests for over $80 million.

Nationally, one study released in August estimated that up to 15 percent of PPP loans may have been fraudulent.

It is unclear what representations Jenkins made to New Jersey’s Cross River Bank, which partnered with “financial technology” companies to loan over $6.5 billion in PPP loans. But the bank has also come under criticism — and congressional scrutiny — for the high number of loans given out to fraudsters.

Cross River did not respond to inquiries about Jenkins’ loan.

Jenkins has been a visible figure in the small and oft-troubled police department, providing media interviews about crimes in Opa-locka, hosting a “Shop with a Cop” holiday event, and speaking out against gun violence.

She also made headlines five years ago when her husband, Darcy Jenkins Jr., was shot to death in the driveway of his Miramar house. The murder case remains unsolved; Nikeya Jenkins is not a suspect and was cleared of any involvement in the killing, according to Miramar police.

OFF-DUTY WORK

At the start of 2021, Jenkins made $85,000 per year in base salary. She was promoted to the deputy chief’s job and in February, her pay was raised to $110,000 annually, according to records provided by the city. Her PPP loan, according to federal records, was approved on April 16.

Reached by phone last week, Jenkins told the Herald that she applied for the loan because of the drastic drop in off-duty pay. She said she ultimately didn’t feel comfortable asking for the loan to be forgiven. “I was a little confused afterward, so I just decided to just pay it back,” she said.

Opa-locka’s off-duty program works in two ways. Businesses and other agencies can contract a police officer through the city, which coordinates the schedule and charges a fee. Or the police officer can contract directly with another agency or private business.

According to Opa-locka, Jenkins earned an additional $20,661 in 2019 in the off-duty program administered by the city. In 2020, as the pandemic hit, that number was cut in half — to $10,434. So far this year, she’s earned nearly $8,000 in city-coordinated off-duty pay.

Neither number accounts for additional money earned in off-duty security work with other cities or private businesses.

Opa-locka, in a written statement, said the city does not have any policies that required Jenkins, or any employee, to get permission to apply for the PPP loans. “The City of Opa-locka, a municipal government agency, is not in a position to determine whether an individual or business met the eligibility criteria” for the loans, the statement said.

Across South Florida, it’s not unusual for police officers to have authorized outside employment. Jenkins, according to the city, had permission for secondary employment

Still, Moulton, of the Project on Government Oversight, said it’s unusual for officers to have gotten PPP loans “for their side hustles.”

In Jenkins’ case, he pointed out, the $20,832 loan seemed high — PPP loans were only supposed to cover supposed payroll for a few months.

“I don’t think PPP was ever supposed to compensate for a full year of salary,” Moulton said.

The SBA did not return a request for comment.

Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, said he wasn’t sure getting PPP money over reduced off-duty police work violates any rules.

“But it smells wrong,” said Stoughton, a former Tallahassee cop who has studied off-duty police work.

The reason: Most police officers who boast outside jobs have them in fields unrelated to their main job — like, say, hawking insurance, event planning, or selling homemade jewelry online. But in Jenkins’ case, her off-duty police work is completely intertwined with her role as a public safety officer.

“Normally, we don’t think of off-duty employment as a separate business,” he said. “We think of it as adjacent to their full-time employment as an an officer. They’re wearing their police uniform. They’re typically driving their police vehicle. They’re using police equipment. And, most importantly, they’re exercising police authority.”

Miami Herald staff writers Jay Weaver and Charles Rabin, and McClatchy staff writer Ben Wieder, contributed to this report