This story about Bill Canan, who was released from prison on Sept. 3, was published in the Herald-Leader on Aug. 28, 1989. It was part of a series called “Birds of a Feather.”
By Valarie Honeycutt
Herald-Leader Staff Wrtiter
In 1978, Bill Canan enjoyed more freedom and power than the average Lexington police officer.
As president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Canan spoke for many of his fellow officers. He could bypass normal police channels and go directly to the chief of police and the commissioner of public safety, according to Assistant Chief Frank Fryman.
Canan also had a federal grant to run a police physical fitness program, and he was well known in the community.
But by the end of 1978, the outspoken Canan’s career was in jeopardy.
He was making allegations of crimes within the department, and his supervisors were investigating an allegation that he had been in a hit-and-run accident.
On April 12, 1979, with his friend Andrew C. “Drew” Thornton II nearby, Canan held a press conference. He said there were possible crimes by Urban County Government employees and asked for an investigation.
In May, a grand jury investigated Canan’s claim that in 1975, two Kentucky State Police officers had broken into a Lexington advertising agency owned by a man they were investigating.
Canan said the officers had stolen files, copied them, returned them and then, along with some Lexington police officers, had tried to cover up the alleged crime.
The grand jury noted that Canan had not arrested the officers himself and that he had let four years elapse before taking the allegations to a prosecutor. .
In its report, issued May 17, the grand jury said the officers’ actions in entering the ad agency raised an ethical question, but it found that no crimes had been committed.
That same month, Canan took his complaints about police and other government divisions to an Urban County Council committee. The committee said that some of the claims had already been investigated, found to be valid and resolved.
The committee did not see fit to punish anyone after talking with Canan, but it did address several of his claims by recommending improvements in government policies.
On other claims, the committee asked Canan for more information. He refused, saying he wanted to protect his sources.
Canan was suspended. He was accused of making allegations without sufficient evidence, of insubordination, of abusing sick leave and of making unauthorized statements to the news media.
The council fired him in July 1979 after a lengthy trial.
Canan later was cleared of the hit-and-run charge — the only criminal charge ever placed against him.
In his efforts, Canan was supported by other officers and friends like Thornton and Wallace M. “Mike” Kelly.
Bonnie Kelly, Mike’s wife at that time, said Thornton and Mike would later say that their problems with the law came because they had supported Canan.
Whenever conflict arose, she said, the group would say, ” ‘They are trying to frame us because we are doing an investigation on the police department,” and the police don’t want to be exposed. “That’s the Bill Canan ‘They’re trying to frame us’ kind of deal.”
The 1979 grand jury report had said: “All this talk of a break-in and cover-up has been going on for years. Our investigation and public statement should resolve this matter once and for all.”
It’s difficult to imagine the motive state police would have for breaking into an ad agency, and what kind of files they might have copied to what advantage. Wasn’t Canan released a couple years early? How could they have given him 17 years for nothing? The one “criminal” charge was dropped.
None of the makes sense. Maybe he was being silenced.
He was convicted in 1993 on charges of conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, threatening witnesses and carrying a false badge that identified him as a federal drug officer. He was sentenced to 17 years without parole.