Georgia Sheriff Butch Conway is having to reimburse $70,000 for the Dodge Charger Hellcat “cruiser” he bought earlier this year with asset forfeiture funds, the Department of Justice said.
The sheriff’s office forked out $69,258 for the 707-horsepower vehicle in a purchase initially approved by the DOJ under its “equitable sharing program, Jalopnik reported.
However, after learning more about the car, the federal government has backtracked and deemed the sports car an “extravagant” purchase.
Conway insisted that the high-powered vehicle would come in handy with Gwinnett County’s “Beat the Heat” program, a non-profit campaign that uses drag racing to educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving and illegal street racing.
Conway’s Dodge Charger is a definite selling point on the program’s website.
“We appreciate Sheriff Butch Conway’s support of our program over the past eight years and hope that this car will greatly assist us in our effort to save lives,” a note says alongside a photo of the powerful vehicle.
The sheriff further defended his purchase, noting that it was well within agency’s $92 million budget and that it provided the opportunity to make “the roadways safer,” an office spokeswoman said, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
However, the DOJ expressed concerns the vehicle was being used privately, to drive to and from work.
In his initial request for purchase, the sheriff also said he would be using the Dodge Charger for undercover and covert operations, which reportedly rang warning bells at DOJ.
The feds said “the vehicle in question is a high-performance vehicle not typically purchased as part of a traditional fleet of law enforcement vehicles,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Gwinnett officials responded this week, agreeing to pay in the requested reimbursement.
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