Damascus Keith Robinson has NOT been accused of any wrongdoing

Early reports said that Damascus' police chief, Keith Robinson, had been placed on administrative leave following the discovery of missing money at Damascus city hall. The news reports made it look as if Chief Robinson was somehow involved but as it turns out he was a victim of attack the whistle blower.

In true good ol boy fashion Robinson was suspended after he turned information over to the State’s Legislative Audit Division while the city’s clerk whom he accused remained employed.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Debra Hale-Shelton writes,

. . . Damascus Police Chief Keith Robinson, who reported the suspected wrongdoing, said it was he, not the city employee he accused, whom the City Council placed on administrative leave with pay.

“They [aldermen] told me they needed my badge and my keys to City Hall,” Robinson said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I felt somewhat betrayed because they had pretty much canned me and allowed [the employee ] to return to work.”

Mayor L.B. Pavatt, contacted Wednesday, declined to say why the chief was put on leave but said, “Nobody’s trying to do him in or anything like that.”

Pavatt also said he did not think Robinson was put on leave because he reported his findings to the state.

“Nothing has been decided on this,” the mayor said. “We don’t know anything. I couldn’t tell you whether there’s a dollar missing or not because I don’t know.”

Robinson said the problems were in the office of a specific city employee. Reached by telephone at City Hall, the employee named by Robinson declined to comment.

Robinson has since been offered a full-time position at the Department and no word has been given about the status of the accused clerk’s employment, meanwhile the investigation continues. . .