https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/norfolk/norfolk-pd-officer-fired-after-anonymous-donation-to-kyle-rittenhouse-defense-fund/Quote:
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) A high-ranking Norfolk Police officer who was found donating to the defense fund of Kyle Rittenhouse has been fired from the police department.
Kyle Rittenhouse is the man charged with the murder of two Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August.
According to the Guardian newspaper on Friday, Sgt. William Kelly, who served as the executive officer of NPD's internal affairs division, made an anonymous $25 donation to Rittenhouse's defense in September. However Kelly used an official email address linked to himself, the Guardian reported.
The revelation came after a data breach of a Christian crowdfunding GiveSendGo, which showed official email addresses belonging to many police officers and public officials. The information was shared with the Guardian by the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The alleged donation from Kelly was made on September 3 and included the comment, "God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You've done nothing wrong" and "Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don't be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership."
Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone said Kelly was initially reassigned to another division pending the results of an administrative investigation. He did not identify Kelly in the statement.
According to Kelly's LinkedIn page, he had been with the Norfolk Police Department for 18 years. He has been the executive officer of internal affairs for the last two months.
In a release sent Tuesday, Norfolk City Manager Chip Filer said he has accepted the recommendation of Chief Boone to relieve Kelly of his duty.