A former Memphis Police Department officer, Arica Hutchison, has been sentenced after pleading guilty to charges related to stealing funds from Crime Stoppers. As reported by WREG, Hutchison developed and executed a plan alongside an accomplice to defraud the program by pocketing unclaimed reward money intended for tipsters who helped solve felony crimes.
Assigned to review tips from 2018 and a familiar face at group meetings, Hutchison exploited her knowledge of the Crime Stoppers system. With finesse, she awarded unclaimed tips to an accomplice, who would then split the proceeds with her. Having served MPD for 17 years, Hutchison was described in a statement obtained by WREG as a "trusted individual" by David Wayne Brown, executive director of Crime Stoppers. Unfortunately, blinded possibly by financial difficulties, she chose a path leading to her current predicament.
According to FOX13, upon stealing over $18,000, Hutchison was handed a six-month sentence with additional conditions, including supervised release, mental health assessment, financial literacy classes, and drug and alcohol treatment. Hutchison admitted to conspiracy to commit theft from a program receiving federal funds, having been caught updating a database to enable her conspirator to collect rewards meant for others.
The accomplice, known only as "KB," is facing separate charges. Even after her capture by FBI agents during a staged reward pickup, Hutchison's sentence appears to reflect only a fraction of the breach of trust she orchestrated. This incident exposes a vulnerability in the institution that the public leans on for justice — a trust now shaken, as told by WREG in an interview with Brown. The fallout from this case adds a shadow on the previously celebrated career of Hutchison, who was once featured on the TLC TV series "Police Women of Memphis," as noted by an article from the Daily Memphian.
