Detective Reprimanded Over Mathew (Jack's Brother) Conway Drug Affair.

Police detective reprimanded over drug probe
By R. G. Dunlop

A Louisville Metro Police detective has received a written reprimand for what Chief Robert White described as his “incompetent handling” of a 2008 drug investigation.

In his letter of reprimand, which was issued Tuesday and released by police Wednesday, White also characterized Det. Scott Wilson’s conduct of the investigation as “severely lacking in professionalism.”

The chief’s letter said he did not take sterner action because Wilson submitted to a lie-detector test that indicated he “did not intend” to alert Matthew Conway, the subject of the investigation, and because Wilson received no benefit as a result of his actions.

White also told Wilson that he was being transferred from the narcotics/intelligence division to the patrol division, effective Jan. 2.

Conway, the younger brother of Attorney General Jack Conway, had recently resigned from the Jefferson County attorney’s office to enter private practice when he learned of the investigation in early 2008. He became an assistant commonwealth’s attorney last August, a position he still holds.

He also came under police scrutiny earlier this year for possible illicit drug use or trafficking, and was again tipped off by police.

Det. Ronald Russ was fired by White last week for disclosing the existence of that investigation to Conway and then initially lying about it when questioned by police investigators.

A third narcotics detective, Chauncey Carthan, received a written reprimand from White last week for talking publicly about the second investigation of Conway.

Conway was placed on a year’s probation last March by Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel after denying under oath to police investigators that Russ had alerted him to the second investigation. Four days later, Conway admitted that he had lied.

He was not charged with a criminal offense in connection with either drug inquiry.

After a criminal investigation by police, the Jefferson County Attorney's Office decided in August that no charges would be filed in connection with the compromised drug probes against Conway, Russ, Wilson or Carthan.

Carthan was not involved in the leaks but was overheard discussing the second investigation in a downtown restaurant last March.

In his letter of reprimand to Wilson, White did not detail what he thought were the detective’s shortcomings in his handling of the first drug inquiry involving Conway. A police department spokesman said White was not available for comment Wednesday.

But an investigation by the department’s Public Integrity Unit earlier this year found that in early 2008 police received information that Conway might be involved with illegal drugs. Wilson shared that information with Louisville attorney Scott Roby, who in turn notified Conway, police records show.

Wilson, a police officer since 1996, told department investigators on March 25 that he had informed Roby of the complaint against Conway because the two attorneys knew each other.

“I was asking him (Roby), ‘Man, do you think this is true?’ ” said Wilson, who acknowledged that he was skeptical. Roby was not interviewed by police and declined to comment when contacted by The Courier-Journal in October.

Conway and Wilson, both of whom attended St. Xavier High School in the early 1990s, are longtime casual acquaintances, they told investigators. But Wilson said he graduated several years ahead of Conway, did not hang out with him in school and had no personal relationship with him now.

After first evading the question, Wilson eventually acknowledged to the police investigators that after calling Roby he allowed Conway to read the complaint accusing him of drug involvement.

Wilson also acknowledged that, after telling Conway he wanted to search his home, he waited two days to do so, rather than “that day or the following day,” as he initially told investigators. Nothing incriminating was found when the search was performed.

Upon hearing Wilson's admission about his handling of the case — calling Roby, showing Conway the complaint, delaying the search for two days — Sgt. Rick Polin of the department's Public Integrity Unit told Wilson, according to a transcript:

“Much as I hate to say it, from my perspective, that's a problem, Scott. It's the same, in my opinion, as, as telling him, 'hey, you know, watch your back, there's a drug complaint on you.’ It's kinda like, ‘clean your —, I'll be over there in two days.’ ”

When Wilson finally conducted the search, Polin said, “it stands to reason there was nothin’ there, because he knew what you were lookin’ for and where you’d be lookin’. You know what I’m sayin’?"

Wilson said he notified Conway before searching his home because he doubted the allegations.

“It just seemed like it (the complaint) was a BS ... domestic kind of issue,” he said. Conway was in the midst of a divorce in late 2007 and early 2008.

Later in his interview, Wilson added: “Wasn’t like I was trying to help him out or anything. … That’s not the way I am.”