The chief of police in Thetford Township was arrested Wednesday and charged with embezzlement.

Thetford Township has a population of 6,800 and is located just north of Flint.

The small town chief is accused of abusing a federal program for police departments which allows them to get old military equipment while only paying the cost of shipping.

The program was meant to help finance struggling police departments.

Genesee County Sheriff Robert Pickell was stunned to discover how Thetford Township Police Chief Robert Kenny accumulated 3,000 pieces of equipment worth $2.7 million from the law enforcement supports office over the last six years.

The department even received kitchen appliances and parachutes.

When Thetford trustee Stan Piechnik started poking around in 2012 things turned up in people's barns and even behind the police department. Farm equipment, an old military Humvee, a military trailer, five military generators and even boat motors turned up.

Kenny is charged with embezzlement and obstruction of justice which stems from a plot where police say he orchestrated a phony discovery of missing money during the investigation.

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