Va. Beach officer goes to jail, but keeps pension

VIRGINIA BEACH

A former city police detective who is serving two years in prison for his role in a marriage fraud ring could soon receive a retirement benefit funded by taxpayers.

Andrey Savelyev, 41, was convicted this year of using his position as a police officer to obstruct a federal investigation and threaten a Navy sailor to remain in a fake marriage.

Savelyev lost his job with the city, but under the state's retirement guidelines, he'll keep his $2,300-a-month pension because he was hurt three years ago while working as a police officer.

It's a loophole in Virginia's disability retirement system that Virginia Beach officials say needs to be closed. The city is urging legislators to change the disability retirement law so employees who are fired because of dishonesty or malfeasance or are convicted of a felony related to abuse of the job can lose their pensions.

"I think it's a little gap that no one has looked to fill," said Patricia Phillips, the city's finance director. "The real issue is not the cost, but what is fair to the taxpayer."

Phillips declined to comment on the Savelyev case, citing city policy on personnel issues, but said she is aware of only one situation where a former Virginia Beach employee has been convicted of a crime and could still get a pension.

Savelyev, who is in a Kentucky prison, asked the state to immediately start paying his disability retirement benefits last month, according to his attorney, Philip Geib.

The state, which administers the retirement programs for most public employees, can block an employee's pension payments under a few circumstances, said Jeanne Chenault, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Retirement System.

If a city or agency certifies that an employee has committed malfeasance in office before he or she retires, the employee can lose his or her payments under the traditional retirement plan based on years of service, Chenault said. The state can't withhold pension payments for misconduct if an employee retires under disability, which is the issue in Virginia Beach.

If Savelyev had retired under the traditional system without any disability issue, the city could have blocked his pension because of misconduct. But in disability retirement, the medical condition trumps other factors, Chenault said.

"It's a different type of plan," she said. "It's based on a medical issue."

There are 149,000 retirees in the VRS system, and rarely is an employee's traditional pension stopped because of misconduct. State officials couldn't recall the last time they received a question about stopping the more specific disability retirement benefit, Chenault said.

Savelyev broke his shoulder in 2007 after he slipped on a just-mopped floor in the police squad room, Geib said.

Savelyev was moved to desk duty after the accident. At the same time, the FBI and immigration officials were investigating him for his involvement in the marriage fraud case. According to documents from the state's Workers' Compensation Commission, Police Chief Jake Jacocks Jr. allowed Savelyev to remain with the department to keep an eye on his activities.

Savelyev resigned from the department on July 31, 2009, and was indicted by a grand jury six days later.

Retirement costs are expensive, and the city and state want to save money by limiting who gets paid, Savelyev's lawyer said.

"He's an easy punching bag," Geib said.

The legislation the Beach is pushing could affect the benefits of employees who may have been hurt at work and let go for reasons that aren't necessarily criminal, Geib said.

"The disability has nothing to do with the malfeasance," he said.

The Beach needs to find a legislator to sponsor the bill. Del. Bob Tata said it's been difficult to restrict retirement payments in the past.

"I thought we ought to err on the side of the employee," Tata, a Republican, said. "It's a close call." But sentiment among legislators has shifted, Tata said.

"One reason," he said, "is because of the shortness of money."

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com