Birmingham man charged with stealing from fallen Huntsville officer's memorial fund

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Federal prosecutors say a Birmingham man has been indicted on charges of stealing from the memorial fund for fallen Huntsville Police Officer Billy Clardy III.

Devonte Lemond Hammonds, 27, is charged with access device fraud and three counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Clardy was killed during a drug bust in December 2019. A memorial fund was set up for contributions to help out his family. The money was taken from the fund later that month, police said.

Hammonds is accused of setting up a bank account with another person’s identity and transferring money from the memorial fund to that account for his own use.

Hammonds also is charged with rerouting mail from victims to addresses he could access in Birmingham, then using the mail to get personal information on the victims that he could use to pay bills, make purchases and open other accounts.

Hammonds faces 10 years in prison for the access device fraud charge and 30 years in prison for each wire fraud charge.