Earlier this month, KWTN first reported that Tara Koenig— who was featured in the press recently for her role in a seven-month undercover operation inside several t-shirt shops here— was the daughter of one of Police Chief Buz Dillon's captains when he was chief of police in Alpharetta, Georgia. It was also suggested that this connection may have given her an advantage in landing a job with the Key West Police Department.
KWPD spokeswoman Cynthia Edwards took issue with that report, telling this reporter that "Buz doesn't even know Tara's father!" That response was, at best, Clintonesque.
A check of Koenig's personnel file revealed that she lists Charles Fannon, of Alpharetta, as her "father." Now a sergeant with the Alpharetta Police Department, he was a captain when Dillon was there. During a telephone interview, Fannon confirmed that he attended Koenig's graduation from the Police Academy here last December— wearing his Alpharetta police uniform.
Did the Alpharetta connection help Koenig get the job here? Well, according to information in her file, she knew Dillon well enough to call him personally and ask for the job. And he not only hired her, he arranged for the City to pay her tuition through the Academy.