This week we published a story about the investigation into a former Lansing police lieutenant who was charged in 2025 with felony embezzlement. We weren’t able to obtain the investigation through the Freedom of Information Act, but we did receive a four-page Citizen/Police Complaint Form” that showed investigators within LPD believe Ryan Wilcox likely committed “additional criminal acts” while he was employed as a police officer.
Wilcox pleaded no-contest to a misdemeanor embezzlement charge last year and left the city with his full pension intact.
The report found he made numerous “questionable purchases” with city tax dollars, falsified overtime, conducted “unauthorized searches” using a police database of his ex-wife, her new boyfriend and that man’s family, and used a city vehicle for personal travel inside and outside Michigan. Michigan State Police had previously confirmed he mowed lawns for his private business on city time, but the internal investigation found he also worked another job without proper city authorization.
MORE: Amazon, Costco and Party City: Ex-LPD lieutenant spent $105K on city credit card before MSP investigation
If it seems like we’ve written often about Wilcox, that’s because his criminal case led to an investigation by reporter Matt Mencarini that showed the city had lax controls on the more than 100 credit cards it issued to employees, with key officials in the city making improper purchases on the taxpayers’ dime. Our reporting also showed this also wasn’t the first time the city had faced questions about credit card use by an employee. There were concerns in 2020 about card used by one of the city’s top officials when federal investigators were investigating other financial irregularities in the city.
The reporting at this point is more about the city’s lack of internal controls than it is a year-old criminal case. But many questions remain on both topics, including:
And that’s before questions involving potential financial losses to the city connected to Wilcox that appear to exceed the $18,500 in restitution he paid, given his six-figure city credit card spending and extensive overtime payments that contributed to the pension he has from the city. Or potential additional criminal charges given the comments of the city’s own investigators.
We think we’re entitled to the full internal investigation, not just a summary, which is a similar argument to the one we made a few months ago when we received a summary of an internal investigation into how a racy music video got made at a Lansing Fire Station last year.
Assistant City Attorney Matthew Staples wrote that the release of additional records involving the LPD internal affairs investigation “would divulge internal affairs investigatory techniques and have a substantial chilling effect on participation in future investigations.”
With two instances of major problems with internal financial controls in five years, we argue that it’s time the city opened up its books, and its investigations, so the public can determine whether Schor and other officials are taking meaningful steps to prevent the loss of tax dollars in the future.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Investigation raises more questions about Lansing’s financial controls
Reporting by Al Wilson, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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