The country’s worst sheriff might just be from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rochelle Bilal has served as the deputy sheriff for the City and County of Philadelphia over the last four years – and her entire tenure has been engulfed in scandals.
Bilal has been accused of frivolous spending, of maintaining a secret taxpayer-funded “slush fund”, and is accused of losing 76 guns from her department since taking office.
Her office also admitted that 30 fake “news” stories posted on their website were generated by AI after The Philadelphia Inquirer said they couldn’t find the articles in their archive.
After being confronted, Bilal’s team said the stories, which were positive spin about the sheriff’s office’s accomplishments, were posted by a consultant using the ChatGPT AI bot.
“Our campaign provided the outside consultant talking points which were then provided to the AI service,” the office said in February. “It is now clear that the artificial intelligence service generated fake news articles to support the initiatives that were part of the AI prompt.”
The office didn’t remove the fake accomplishments from their website, but simply added a disclaimer to their website saying that the information “makes no representations or warranties of any kind.”
Bilal’s office also lost 76 guns from the sheriff’s arsenal and 109 guns confiscated using Red Flag laws, which they blamed on a prior administration. Bilal’s team said the prior sheriff’s office had poor record-keeping and storage rules, which made it impossible to track the guns once Bilal took office.
Despite complaining that her office is underfunded and unable to properly supply their police officers, a 2022 audit found that Bilal’s office used taxpayer and confiscated funds to create vanity novelties like Rochelle Bilal-branded trading cards.
Bilal’s team recently spent $9,250 of taxpayer money to create a new mascot for the office, named simply “Deputy Sheriff Mascot” that they unveiled to the public at the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day parade.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and other outlets reported that Bilal’s spending came from an off-budget “slush fund.”
According to The Daily Mail –
Two years after the audit and four years after a former top aide to Bilal identified the expenditure as a ‘slush fund,’ a money reserve used for illicit purposes, City Hall has still permitted the spending to proceed.
Robert Vargas, an associate professor at the University of Chicago who studies law enforcement spending, said that slush accounts, like the one Bilal has been using, ‘allow law enforcement leaders to spend on things that would not be approved by local governing bodies.’
Bank records obtained by the Inquirer identified nearly $3.2 million that went into a TD Bank account called ‘Operation Cost Payable,’ which is controlled by the mayor.
In fact, reporters monitored the payment of $2 million using checks for over 700 optional items, including the mascot costume.
With this money, the sheriff’s is expected to auction off property, serving warrants, transporting inmates, and providing court security.
Instead, nearly $40,000 went to companies that supply branded merchandise such as backpacks, polo shirts or fidget spinners; $20,000 went toward food and catering costs, including a $6,600 party at Chickie & Pete’s; and $8,000 more paid for professional DJs and other entertainment.
The money has also allegedly been used to cover the cost of hiring temporary workers for the Sheriff’s Office and, most recently, an administrative assistant who receives biweekly salary but is not officially employed by the city.
Some checks, like the $32,000 payment for advertising made to TML Communications last year—a company headed by Bilal’s former campaign manager, who now works as the office’s paid spokesperson—are cosigned by Bilal herself.
Furthermore, according to a summary the office issued last year, the Sheriff’s Office spent over $300,000 from the same account to pay for the expenses of a ‘pop-up health care clinic’ in April 2022.
Brett Mandel, who previously served as Bilal’s finance officer in 2020, said he had “grave concerns” about the sheriff after he submitted a whistleblower lawsuit.
“I think we have seen at the local and national level, not only a disregard for truth and the institutions we have thought of as being the gatekeepers to truth, but I think we have eroded all trust in this area,” he told The Daily Mail.
According to reports, Bilal’s office has continued to increase the number of community events hosted annually, which include the distribution of branded items that have Bilal’s name, image, or her office’s logo.
But it’s not enough.
Bilal asked for an additional $12.6 million for her office’s annual budget during a City Council meeting on Wednesday, a 40 percent increase.
Rather than condemn her, Philadelphia’s Democratic Party council members praised her office.
“I just want to thank you for your hard work and your dedication and working in partnership with members of Council and the city of Philadelphia,” Council President Kenyatta Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia continues one of the most dangerous cities in America — no thanks to what may be the worst sheriff in the country.
Stephen Dietrich is the publisher of The Horn News