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Montgomery County officials claim police Officer Aaron Kenneth Bailey "defrauded" the county out of about $400,000 by using taxpayer money to offer discounted guns to officers, according to a lawsuit filed against Bailey in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit filed March 3 claims that Bailey, of Bethesda, operated the Applied Sciences for Public Safety LLC courses. County police officers used the county's tuition assistance fund to pay for the courses, but a portion of their tuition went to pay for guns that then were offered to participants at deep discounts.

County spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield said the county wants the $400,000 in tuition assistance funds returned, and also is seeking about $500,000 in punitive damages.

He said the lawsuit was not a statement about the quality of the training, but a recognition that county funds should not have been used to pay for discounted weapons for officers.

Even before the lawsuit, Bailey was transferred from his job in the police department's firearms division and moved to an administrative role. He is now on paid leave, Lacefield said.

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger deferred questions about the lawsuit Tuesday to the county attorney.

Lacefield said county officials also are investigating whether 150 police officers took training courses at Applied Sciences for Public Safety in Laytonsville while they were on the clock. All training for which employees receive tuition reimbursement is to be done on personal time, he said.

Those officers are believed to have submitted questionable time cards between 2006 and 2009, Lacefield said.

If the officers did violate the rules, Lacefield said the time will be taken from their accrued leave.

Ervin questions absence

from renter task force

Montgomery County Council Vice President Valerie Ervin said she is "puzzled" by County Executive Isiah Leggett's decision not to include her in a work group studying tenant issues in the county.

The work group was announced in 2008 and released a report Friday, which Ervin (D-Dist. 5) said Monday she had not seen.

"I'm not really happy that I wasn't asked to be on the work group," she said in a phone interview. "Forty percent of my district is renters, and I wasn't asked to be on the group."

Ervin said Leggett gave no reason for her exclusion from the group.

"I look at the people on the work group, and I'm very puzzled," Ervin said. "I guess they decided what they wanted the outcome to be. I'm not always in agreement."

The work group had about 15 members — mostly representing county renters and county officials, but also one from a group representing landlords.

County spokesman Patrick Lacefield said Leggett was not aware that Ervin wanted to be included, but would have welcomed her participation.

Lacefield said the council president at the time, Councilman Philip M. Andrews, was charged with appointing a council member to the group.

Councilman Marc Elrich (D-At large) of Takoma Park was appointed.

Lacefield said work group meetings were open to the public, but Ervin did not attend.

Manger remembers

late father as ‘great man'

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger's father died Feb. 24 at a Rockville nursing center from complications of Parkinson's disease.

His father, J. Thomas Manger Jr., was 86.

"My dad was a great man," Manger said Tuesday. "Any success that I've had in my professional and personal life is a direct result of the values my parents taught me."

Manger said his father's death came just 12 days after the death of his mother.

Public hearings scheduled

on fiscal 2011 budget

The Montgomery County Council has scheduled several public hearings in April on the county's fiscal 2011 operating budget.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) will release his proposed fiscal 2011 budget March 15.

The public hearings are scheduled for 7 p.m. April, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and 1:30 p.m. April 7.

The hearings will be held at the Montgomery County Council building, 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville.