Former Mount Vernon Police Officer Sentenced for Extortion

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Matthew L. Dailey, 45, of Howard, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 72 months in prison for Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Timothy J. Plancon, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Mount Vernon Police Chief Roger A. Monroe, announced the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.

According to court documents, Dailey was a Detective Sergeant with the Mount Vernon Police Department. He investigated general crimes and narcotics crimes. In September 2015, Dailey asked an individual who had served as an informant for Dailey for approximately seven years to sell drugs for him.

Dailey provided the individual with marijuana, methamphetamine, bath salts and ecstasy pills to sell and split the profits. A portion of the drugs came from the police department’s property room, which Dailey supervised in his role as evidence custodian.

Investigators also observed Dailey meeting with a second confidential informant who sold large quantities of oxycodone pills to Dailey approximately five days a week for seven months. The second confidential informant told investigators that Daily had asked him to sell marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine for him. The investigation revealed that Dailey possessed a firearm during the drug trafficking offenses.

Dailey was placed on administrative leave in September 2015. During an inventory of the property room, police discovered a kit used to teach drug awareness was missing crack and powder cocaine and ecstasy pills. The inventory analysis also revealed that the methamphetamine, bath salts and hundreds of oxycodone pills were missing from the property room.

Further investigation revealed that Dailey created forged and falsified Mount Vernon Police Department evidence destruction orders. Investigators found multiple copies of the falsified letterhead in Dailey’s desk drawer and filing cabinet. Investigators concluded that Dailey’s actions during his criminal scheme affected nearly forty cases.

Dailey pleaded guilty on December 21, 2015. He also agreed to pay restitution to the Mount Vernon Police Department, forfeit weapons, and a ban on future employment in any law enforcement capacity.

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation by the FBI, DEA, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Mount Vernon Police Department, as well as Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica H. Kim and Douglas W. Squires, who represented the United States in this case.