Yeadon Borough Council votes to fire police chief Anthony 'Chachi' Paparo for allegations of overspending

YEADON, Pa. - The Yeadon Borough Council voted Thursday to remove police chief Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo following a month-long battle that included allegations of racism from the embattled chief.

The council reconvened exactly one week after Yeadon residents packed the meeting room in boisterous support of the chief. He expected to be fired last Thursday, but instead, the council granted a due process hearing to let the chief explain a charge of nearly $400k in overspending.

The same rowdy crowd came out Thursday to loudly support Paparo, and they had allies on board, like Councilmember Liana Roadcloud. She backed up Paparo's claim that some council members want to oust him in favor of an African-American chief. 

Roadcloud said she has witnessed racist conversations and said she is prepared to testify on the chief's behalf. 

Paparo led the Yeadon Borough Police Department for the past five years and his crime-fighting strategies garnered praise from the community and Mayor Rohan K. Hepkins. He was also at the meeting Thursday night and doubled down his support for Paparo, but couldn't prevent the council vote.

"If you could clone him that's who people would want - chiefs, mayors, chief executives - would want around the country because he has decreased crime while being under budget," Hepkins previously told FOX 29. "You'd be hard-pressed to find that type of performance, during the pandemic, crime went down."

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• Yeadon Borough Council President calls rumors police chief will be fired because of race "totally absurd"
• Yeadon police chief says he expects to be fired because he's white, council president calls claim 'absurd'
• Yeadon police chief gets due process hearing to explain accused overspending amid allegations about race

Paparo said he started hearing rumblings that the borough council was going to fire him when his contract expired in January. He originally dismissed the idea that he would be removed from his post, then he was met with a stirring accusation.

"Residents were coming to me, various people were coming to me, and say they're going to fire me in January. I was like ‘come on now," Paparo said. "Then the rumors started that they wanted a Black chief in Yeadon."

All along, President Council-Harris called the accusation of racism is "totally absurd." She contests that Paparo violated a Fraternal Order of Police contract clause with years of overspending that cost taxpayers nearly $400k.

"This is not about race, I hired him in 2017 with four other councilors here," Council President Sharon Council-Harris said. "He violated the contract, costing the borough $387k from the general fund, not from his budget."

During last week's meeting, the council displayed a large lottery-style check for $387k with "The Yeadon Taxpayers" in the signature line and "Mismanaged overtime" in the memo section. Another large clip from the Philadelphia Inquirer with the headline "Chief Chachi was repeatedly warned" was propped up on an easel. 

Paparo called the council's display "humiliating" during his lengthy speech during Thursday's meeting ahead of the vote. His lawyer, Harold Goodman, also spoke and promised legal action against the council's decision.

"It's not over, alright, more stuff is going to come out," Paparo told reporters after the council meeting. "This is not how my career ends, 38 years of my life as a cop, this is not how my career ends because they don't like the color of my skin."

The council has appointed Yeadon Borough Police Lieutenant Sean Burns as interim chief.

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