UPDATED 4:50 p.m.

A contrite Police Chief Joe Mokwa apologized for errors in judgment but said he had "done nothing wrong" in the growing police department, auto towing contract controversy.

Mokwa read from a prepared statement but refused to take any questions, citing an ongoing investigation into the use of cars from a lucrative towing contractor with the city. 

Mokwa spoke at a news conference at police headquarters late this afternoon.

Mokwa gave a lengthy recounting of his daughter's troubled past, but said that he had no involvement in her getting special treatment from the contractor, who supplied her cars for personal use.

Mokwa said he has "disengaged myself from her life" except as it pertains to her three children, Mokwa's grandchildren. He said that his daughter and her husband, who worked the district where the contractor's tow yard is located, had their own connections with the tow yard operator.

"The last few days have been trying and difficult for me," Mokwa said. "I have done nothing wrong." 
 
Mokwa has not answered questions from the media since a law firm hired by the police board released a report Friday saying that an arm of St. Louis Metropolitan Towing had allowed Mokwa's daughter and police officers to drive cars for free for months at a time.

At a news conference at police headquarters, Mokwa said he would never facilitate or help his daughter obtain special deals. Any "kindnesses" extended to her were offered without consulting him, he said.

The board initially reported that Mokwa had "acted properly, appropriately and legally at all times" and said the investigation was closed.

But on Monday, board President Chris Goodson did an about-face, after the Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that Aimie Mokwa had gotten free use of multiple cars over several years, and that city police had investigated an accident involving a previously impounded car car in 2002.

The report Friday said Mokwa first learned of the free use of cars in April and immediately notified the police board.

However, Goodson said Mokwa admitted over the weekend and on Monday that he had known earlier than this spring that his daughter was driving previously impounded cars.

This afternoon, Mokwa said he had been truthful in his responses to the police board and the lawyers conducting the police board inquiry. 
 
 
 

Our earlier story:

Three days after saying Police Chief Joe Mokwa "acted properly, appropriately and legally at all times," the Police Board announced Monday it may discipline Mokwa over his conduct in a controversy that has spurred a federal investigation.

Mokwa knew his daughter had gotten free use of multiple cars over several years from a company with a lucrative contract to tow and impound vehicles seized by his department, but didn't volunteer that information to the Police Board until after the board closed its investigation Friday, board President Chris Goodson said.

The board's lawyer Jeffrey Demerath on Monday night went further, saying the chief "was not truthful" during his law firm's three-month review, and he called for further investigation.

"The direction of the investigation would have been completely different if we had been told the truth," he said.

The law firm's report, issued Friday, said Mokwa first learned of his daughter's use of free cars this spring.

The board's about-face came a day after the Post-Dispatch revealed new details about the cars that Aimie Mokwa used for free or bought at prices far below wholesale value. The article raised questions about how long the chief knew about the cars.

Also Monday, federal authorities stepped up an investigation into the department's relationship with St. Louis Metropolitan Towing.

The Post-Dispatch has learned that the federal investigation began weeks before the Police Board first admitted Friday that Mokwa's daughter and an untold number of unidentified police officers were given free, extended use of cars by the tow company. The Police Board on Monday turned over to the U.S. attorney's office notes from its law firm's review of the arrangements.

Mokwa is expected today to address, for the first time, an issue that Mayor Francis Slay has termed "troubling" and an 1,100-member association of Mokwa's officers has called "embarrassing."

"I didn't have faith in the chief before, and I don't think I do now," said Sgt. Gary Wiegert, president of the St. Louis Police Officers' Association.

The association questioned whether any of its members took cars and suggested that the allegations about officers were a smokescreen to minimize the attention paid to the chief's daughter.

THE NEON CASE

A Post-Dispatch investigation has found that Aimie Mokwa, 33, obtained four cars from an arm of the towing company, Parks Auto Sales, that sells some impounded cars which go unclaimed by their owners.

In the earliest-known case, she wrecked one of the cars in south St. Louis in 2002, and city police noted the company's ownership on the department's own accident report.

Parks sold her three other cars, saving her $10,000 from what a dealer would have paid for similar cars at the time, according to figures provided by National Auto Research, a Georgia firm that specializes in determining auto values.

That includes one car — a late-model Chevy Malibu — that Parks let her drive for 10 months in 2006, according to state and court records.

Records show she bought the car only after a Warren County sheriff's deputy pulled her over and found a computer entry stating the car belonged in St. Louis city's impound lot.

The computer entry was a mistake — the car was owned by Parks by then — but the incident eventually led the newspaper to uncover her use of previously impounded vehicles.

After receiving a tip, the Post-Dispatch contacted the Warren County sheriff's office in April. Goodson had said that "law enforcement sources" then contacted Mokwa to alert him to a press inquiry about the 2006 stop.

Mokwa then told his bosses — the Police Board, made up of the mayor and four people appointed by the governor — and that spurred the board to hire Demerath's law firm, Armstrong Teasdale, to represent it.

UNASKED QUESTIONS

The firm released its report Friday indicating there was no wrongdoing. Goodson said the case was closed.

But, he said, the chief admitted over the weekend and on Monday that he had known earlier than this spring that his daughter was driving previously impounded cars.

Goodson said the law firm never asked the chief when he first knew about the other cars his daughter was driving that were provided by Parks. The law firm asked only about the 2006 incident, and just assumed the chief had volunteered all that he knew, Goodson said.

But, Goodson said, the chief should have told the Police Board or its law firm the full story anyway.

"It's the credibility issue between the board and the chief — that he didn't give us the information," Goodson said.

He said the board would meet in the "very near future" to discuss discipline.

Still, Goodson said, he doesn't think anything illegal happened, saying that Aimie Mokwa eventually bought all the cars.

Then a reporter reminded him that she didn't buy the first car, a 2002 Dodge — and instead drove the $5,000 Neon, with no insurance or valid license, and wrecked it beyond repair. State records show that Parks sold the wreckage for $150.

When asked who paid for the Neon, Goodson said Monday that he didn't know. When asked whether the board should find out, Goodson said, "Absolutely."

In a statement released hours later, Slay said he is "generally satisfied" with the chief's performance in keeping the city safe, he is "not yet satisfied on the overall issue of departmental conduct, the important details of when exactly the department became aware of the practice, whether others besides the chief's daughter did this same thing, and why the (law firm's) report seems to be wrong."

"These all raise questions that must be answered clearly and publicly," Slay wrote.

The officers association said it agrees. It called for the department to release all the records from its law firm's investigation to the public, something the board has yet to do.

"These lawyers have basically been hired to defend Joe Mokwa — and we're paying for it," Wiegert said.

Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.


jkohler@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8337

joe.mahr@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8101