A data breach at a Christian crowdfunding website revealed that police officers and public officials have been monetarily supporting Kyle Rittenhouse and cops who've been implicated in murdering Black people.
Transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets shared their findings with The Guardian. Contributors donated money to Rittenhouse and others through GiveSendGo. They tried to hide their identities using the website's anonymity feature but the platform maintained traceable information, such as email addresses.
Rittenhouse -- who allegedly murdered two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin -- received $586,940 for his legal defense. One anonymous $25 donation came from Sgt. William Kelly, the executive officer of internal affairs in Virginia's Norfolk police department.
"God bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. You've done nothing wrong," read Kelly's message. "Every rank and file police officer supports you. Don't be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership."
Since Kelly was exposed as a contributor, the Norfolk Police Department announced they were investigating the officer.
Michael Crosley, an engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which oversees America’s supply of nuclear weapons, made a $100 donation using his official email address.
In addition, multiple police officers donated money to Rusten Sheskey, the Kenosha officer who shot Jacob Blake. Sheskey received over $5,000 from 32 donations from Kenosha officers who used their badge numbers to make the contributions.
When questioned about the donations, Green Bay police chief Andrew Smith said his department is "looking into the matter."
Source: The Guardian
