On Monday just before 5 p.m. Inside Fort Smith received a packet of 423 pages of documentation via a Freedom of Information request made to the City of Fort Smith concerning the hiring and resignation of former Detroit police captain Harold Rochon as an administrator with the Fort Smith Police Department.
A cursory examination of the documents answered a few of the questions we had about the situation but left many unanswered.
When IFS first learned of the pending hiring of Rachon in August, a basic internet search revealed a situation that occurred in 2008 when Rachon has named by a Detroit police investigator as being in an effort to stymie his investigation into the connection between then Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s and a Kentucky drug dealer.
Investigator Ira Rose said Rochon, who was his acting supervisor at the time, told him to stand down on the investigation and ordered him to take an “early vacation”.
Further research into Rochon revealed a connection and business relationship between him and Fort Smith Police Chief Nathaniel Clark through a “youth violence and gang” 501c3 funded research group called The Target Group, an organization that served as a speakers bureau and seminar presenting entity addressing those issues. Rochon’s application for the position of deputy director of administrative services for the Fort Smith Police Department listed him as the executive director for the organization from June 2007 to the present.
There are several online links that identify Clark as a speaker or employee for The Target Group including this link to a Facebook page from November 4, 3013 identifying Clark, then the deputy chief of Police in Albany, Georgia, as a scheduled speaker at a seminar at Wayne State University.
• See link to FOIA HERE
Likewise, a Google internet search for “Nathaniel Clark” and “The Target Group” results in a picture of Clark labeled “Deputy Chief Nathaniel Clark, The Target Group, Inc.”
Their paths had also apparently crossed as far back as 2010 as well when Clark worked for the police department in Albany, Georgia. Then-lieutenant Rochon of the Detroit department conducted a three-day seminar on violence prevention for law enforcement. Clark was the gang expert for New Albany department at the time.
While those two items seemed to raise a red flag, when the internal announcement of Rochon’s hiring occurred in mid-August Inside Fort Smith conducted research on Rochon’s “retirement” from the Detroit Police Department in 2016. Two separate sources in Detroit confirmed that Rochon had “resigned amid some allegations that were being investigated”, which seemingly turned out to be over allegations that he used on-duty police officers to build a deck at his home. Some of the officers were paid overtime as well, and the incident resulted in charges being filed against him last week in Wayne County, Michigan.
Rochon had originally been hired to start to work for Fort Smith on August 28 but when he failed to show up for his new hire orientation on that date, a new date of hire was established as September 5 via an internal memo from Clark. Rochon was on the job for just five days before resigning after telling Clark that something had “come-up” in Detroit that might affect his employment status.
News of the indictment of Rochon last Tuesday on the charges in Detroit broke from several news sources late Thursday night, four days after he resigned from the FSPD.
After being tipped to the quick resignation of Rochon on September 8 last week a FOIA request with the city of Fort Smith was filed the following day with City administrator Carl Geffken. In his response to that request, Gefken mentions that “another party” had requested the same information and asked to given until September 18 to grant the request. According to information released via the FOIA request, the “other party” was a local television station.
Geffken indicated that the television station had stated their source had told him that Rochon had been issued a badge and a gun. Geffken told the television reporter Rochon had been issued a badge, but not a gun, which mirrors information that had been obtained by IFS. The source for IFS also said that at least two police officers were told they were to “report” to Rochon indicating he had been placed in a “supervisory” position.
In part of the email chain discussing the FOIA request Geffken said “Chief Clark did not make the recommendation to hire. You’ll see that in the information we will provide.”
However, there is nothing in the emails that indicates “who” hired Rochon to the position, which included a starting salary of $70,000 a year, full medical coverage., ten days vacation and up to $5,000 in moving expenses. Just over $2700 was paid out in moving expenses to a local moving company.
On June 27, Clark sent an email to human resources director Naomi Roundtree to schedule interviews three days later for the three candidates for he position. The names listed included Rochon, James Kuchenbecker and Christopher Allen. On July 27, Roundtree emailed Cltark to inform him that Rochon had accepted the position. Roundtree had informed Rochon of his hiring on July 26.
Emails indicate that Rochon was in the police department “several times” between being notified and actually starting work on September 5. At one point, an email from the human resources department reminded Clark that Rochon was not “to do any work” until he was officially on the payroll.
There are two emails that identify Rochon as “Chief Clark’s selection for the position of Deputy Director of Administrative Services” indicating that while Clark may not have “hired” Rochon the final decision was left up to him.
Geffken also claimed that an :extensive” background search was done on Rochon prior to the hiring. Nothing on Rochon’s resume referenced the FBI investigation or his business association with Clark through tThe Target Group. There is no indication in any of the emails if Clark was asked if he knew Rachon prior to the application process.
The other two men named as finalist for the Fort Smith job, James Kuchenbecker and Christopher Allen, turned up some interesting information with a simple internet search.
A James Kuchenbecker had served as the chief of police In Washington, Ohio for nine years before taking a job as public safety director in Canton, Ohio in 2013. Ironically, Kuchenbecker resigned two weeks after taking that job when it was revealed he had come under investigation for “potential misconduct” by the city of Washington before he took the Canton job. An incident involving Kuchenbecker at the city’s evidence garage surrounding a 1948 Ford Coupe that came up missing led to the city of Washington contacting the state’s attorney’s office in Ohio to investigate. A James Kuchenbecker is currently the chief of police of Bull Shoals in Marion County and appears to be the same individual.
