Bad Cop News
Our Tax Dollars At WorkSearch:
Hosted in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Archive for the ‘Thefts’ Category
Former Bucks County Pennsylvania Prosecuor Joseph James Scafidi Pleads Guilty In Mortgage Theft, Sentenced To 18 To 36 Months In Prison
July 3rd, 2008
BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA - A former Bucks County prosecutor who had pleaded guilty to stealing mortgage payments, writing bad checks, and forging a judge’s signature was sentenced to prison by a Delaware County Court judge yesterday.
Joseph James Scafidi, 53, of Warminster, was sentenced to serve 18 to 36 months in state prison and five years on probation, ordered to pay $42,000 in restitution to the homeowners, and forbidden to work in the mortgage or any other financial business.
Scafidi, who was working as a mortgage broker when he was arrested, also pleaded guilty yesterday to new charges, including perjury. He had earlier told authorities under oath he didn’t know of any more fraudulent cases, but later acknowledged he was involved with others. The sentencing for the new charges was combined yesterday with the previous cases.
Read MoreFormer Sulphur Springs Police Chief Andrew Little Arrested, Charged With Theft After Stealing Stepfather’s Guns
July 3rd, 2008
BENTONVILLE, ARKANSAS - Prosecutors have filed a formal theft charge against the former police chief of Sulphur Springs.
On Monday, Andrew Little, 24, of Gentry was charged with theft of property, a class B felony punishable with a prison sentence ranging from five to 20 years.
Little was arrested April 22 and was later released on felony citation.
According to a probable-cause affidavit in the case, in early March, Little told his stepfather, Richard Cummins, that five of his weapons had been stolen in a burglary.
Little first claimed the alleged thief had been arrested, but that the guns were being held by the Fort Smith Police Department until after the case went to court on April 18.
Cummins told police he later discovered that two more guns were also missing. Little told Cummins the guns were in a Sulphur Springs evidence locker and could not yet be returned, according to the affidavit.
Read MoreClinch County And Homerville Georgia Judge Berrien Sutton Quits In Disgrace Amid Federal Criminal Investigation Into $500,000 Fraud Scheme
June 30th, 2008
HOMERVILLE, GEORGIA - Monday was the last day on the job for a Homerville Judge. Berrien Sutton served as the juvenile court and state court judge in Clinch County.
He resigned amid a federal criminal investigation and an ethics complaint by the Judicial Qualification Commission. The Commission charged him with seven misconduct violations but dropped them when Sutton agreed to resign.
Federal prosecutors say Sutton and his wife collected more than $500,000 in illegal fees for doing minimal or no work in positions created by former Judge Brooks Blitch.
They want to seize a house they say the Suttons built with that money. No word yet on who will replace him. Appeared Here
Former West Des Moines Iowa City Councilman Brad Olson Receives Less Than A Slap On The Wrist In Two Felony Theft Cases
June 29th, 2008
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA - Brad Olson hopes to exit the public sphere now that he made a final appearance in court today for two felony theft cases.
The former West Des Moines city councilman received a deferred judgment this morning for a Polk County theft case in which he pleaded guilty of operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison.
Olson was initially charged with first-degree theft, a felony charge that could have carried a 10-year prison sentence. The charge was filed in September after police found a pickup truck behind Olson’s former business in West Des Moines that had been reported stolen from an Ankeny dealership more than three years earlier.
Olson had leased the truck from Dewey Ford, but the lease paperwork was misplaced at the dealership, Olson and Dewey officials have said.
Read MoreAustin Texas Lawyer Terry Erwin Stock Pleads Guilty After Stealing $800,000 From Clients After Their Deaths
June 28th, 2008
AUSTIN, TEXAS - A lawyer accused of stealing from three elderly clients after their deaths, including living in one woman’s home and driving another’s car, has pleaded guilty to felony theft charges.
Terry Erwin Stork, 69, faces up to life in prison on two of the charges when he is sentenced in August. He pleaded guilty Friday.
According to lawsuits and arrest affidavits, Stork systematically mismanaged or stole from the three estates worth more than $800,000 over two decades, the Austin American-Statesman reported Saturday.
The records said Stork lived in the home of a deceased client from 1987 to 2002 and deposited money from the sale of the home into his own bank account.
In another case, he allegedly let the home of a client sit empty, drove the woman’s Buick LeSabre to disrepair and used her money to add to his rare china collection. He was also accused of failing to pass along inheritances to people and organizations that were supposed to get them.
Read MoreOrange County California Judge, Former Prosecutor Kelly MacEachern Removed From Bench For Misconduct After Bogus Expense Claims, Lying
June 27th, 2008
SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA - An Orange County judge was ordered removed from office Thursday by state officials who said the former county prosecutor filed false and misleading expense claims for a legal conference in San Diego and then lied when questioned about them.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern is the first judge in the county and the 24th in California ordered removed from office since 1960.
The jurist’s attorney said MacEachern intended to appeal the split decision by the state Commission on Judicial Performance.
In a 7-3 ruling made public Thursday, the commission concluded that MacEachern “engaged in willful misconduct” in misrepresenting her attendance at the Continuing Judicial Studies Program in summer 2006. The decision was based on findings by three masters appointed by the state Supreme Court to investigate the allegations.
Read MoreHorsham Pennsylvania Police Officer Thomas Crow Receives A Slap On The Wrist After On Duty Sex With A Whore In Patrol Car, Faces Trial On Felony Insurance Fraud And Theft By Deception
June 26th, 2008
HORSHAM, PENNSYLVANIA - It’s been a tough few days for former Horsham police Officer Thomas Crow.
After being sentenced to probation Monday for having sex with a prostitute in his patrol car while on duty, the Hatboro man now faces a new trial on felony charges of insurance fraud and theft by deception.
Crow, 36, waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday on the charges in district court in Hatboro, sending the case against him to Montgomery County Court.
While he was a police officer, Crow fraudulently reported to Horsham police, his former department, that his Toshiba laptop and two cameras were stolen from his vehicle in 2002 while it was parked at a township shopping center, a criminal complaint said.
The laptop and the cameras, a Nikon and Panasonic video recorder, were Crow’s personal property, not the police department’s equipment, said Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Todd Stephens.
Read MoreBibb County Georgia Deputy Sheriff Robert Moran Fired For Stealing Money From High School Band Program
June 26th, 2008
MACON, GEORGIA - For the second time in two weeks, a Bibb County sheriff’s deputy has found himself on the other side of the law.
The sheriff’s office announced Wednesday that a deputy was terminated following an investigation of a possible theft totaling more than $2,000 from the Westside High School band program.
Robert Moran, 41, who volunteered as president of the school’s Band Boosters, was arrested Monday and charged with felony theft by taking in connection with the incident, sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. George Meadows said.
He was released on $3,400 bond from the Bibb County jail, where he worked as a corrections officer, and fired the same day.
A tentative trial date has been set for July.
Deputy Jiwana Daquare Green, 30, who is also assigned to the corrections division, was arrested June 12 on charges of misdemeanor marijuana possession following a traffic stop by Macon police for a burned out headlight and cracked taillight.
Read MoreLowell Massachusetts Police Officer David Annis Indicted, Charged With Gambling And Extortion Charges
June 26th, 2008
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS - A Lowell police officer was indicted today on charges he gambled illegally on sports and used his law enforcement powers to dig up dirt on his Westford bookie to get out of paying back his debts.
[BCN: Anyone who has had any contact with this lying sack of shit is left with the desire to kill him dead. Annis sells drugs, assaults and robs those he arrests, receives sex from known whores in exchange for protection, threatens individuals with arrest if they won't lie for him, stalks the spouses and girlfriends of those he arrests in efforts to get laid, and deals in stolen goods. Annis belongs behind bars, or better yet, 6 feet under.]
David Annis, 33, faces gambling, extortion, and charges that he illegally obtained criminal record information to intimidate the bookmaker from collecting his $5,000 tab.
“We allege that David Annis violated the trust and authority bestowed on him as a police officer to commit these crimes,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said in a statement. Leone thanked the Lowell police for their cooperation in discovering the alleged crime and reporting it to his office.
Authorities said Annis began an unsuccessful gambling spree last August, betting online through the bookmaker. In September, the bookmaker asked to meet Annis to collect the money Annis owed him. During the meeting, Annis allegedly showed the bookmaker his badge and the criminal records and said he might be “investigating gambling cases.” He said the bookmaker wouldn’t be arrested if “things could go smoothly.”
A man who answered the phone at the number listed for Annis in Lowell declined to comment.
“If these allegations prove to be true, Officer Annis will have betrayed his oath of office and his badge,” said Lowell Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee. “Public trust is critical to the law enforcement mission.”
The department would not comment on whether Annis would be suspended or placed on leave pending the outcome of his case. No arraignment date has been set.
Read MoreIrvington New Jersey Employee Charged With Stealing $30,000 In Change From Parking Meters
June 21st, 2008
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY — New Jersey prosecutors say a former city worker whose job involved emptying parking meters stole more than $30,000 in coins from the machines. That equals a stack of quarters about 700 feet high.
An indictment handed up Wednesday against Rodney Dennis charges him with official misconduct and theft.
Authorities say the 52-year-old was supposed to deposit the coins in an Irvington police department account after removing them from the meters. He’s accused of putting them in his own bank account instead during most of 2006.
Officials say a bank investigator became suspicious and alerted police. Dennis was fired in February.
His lawyer, Rubin Sinins, says Dennis will plead not guilty, but declined to comment further.
Off Duty Garland Texas Police Officer Brandon Hernandez Shoots And Kills Man In Church Parking Lot
June 20th, 2008
GARLAND, TEXAS - One man is dead after police say he threatened an off-duty North Texas police officer.
From the scene, in the 700 block of Interstate-30, a Rockwall police lieutenant said the off-duty officer, Brandon Hernandez with the Garland Police Department, drove into the parking lot of the Lake Point Church and encountered a man in a Mustang.
The lieutenant said the man in the Mustang, identified as Troy Pool, pointed a handgun at Hernandez. At that point, the off-duty officer opened fire and shot Pool multiple times. Pool, who appeared to have a gunshot wound near the pelvic area, was taken to a hospital by ambulance and later declared dead.
Sources say the officer was a member of the church, but the man in the Mustang had no affiliation with the church. They are not sure why he drove into the parking lot.
Read MoreGary Indiana Police Officer Parnell Jordan Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement - Special Plea Deal In Place?
June 19th, 2008
HAMMOND, INDIANA - A Gary Police Department reserve officer pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzlment related to his after-hours security job at a public housing complex.
Parnell Jordan signed a plea agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Hammond Thursday in which he admits embezzling money in a ghost payrolling scheme involving Trillium Properties LLC, a publicly subsidized housing complex.
Jordan collected more than $5,000 in checks from Trillium between 2005 and 2007 without working the hours for which he was paid, court records state.
Jordan was working as a courtesy patrol officer for an undisclosed Trillium housing development, and at the same time was employed as an off-duty security officer for the Gary Housing Authority.
Parnell Jordan
5325 ADAMS ST.
MERRILLVILLE, IN 46410
Ivy Tech Community College
| Legal Name: | Parnell Jordan |
| Email: | pjordan@ivytech.edu |
| Phone: | 219-392-3600 ext. 222 |
Suspended Rockwall County District Attorney Galen Ray Sumrow Quits In Disgrace After Second Felony Conviction - Sentenced To 15 + 4 Years In State Prison
June 19th, 2008
ROCKWALL, TEXAS - Rockwall County District Attorney Galen Ray Sumrow resigned Wednesday, eight days after his second felony conviction for crimes he committed while in office.
On June 10, a jury convicted Sumrow of theft by a public servant. Prosecutors said he stole $68,000 of the county’s money and diverted it to his personal checking account. Sumrow repaid the money when county officials discovered it was missing.
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In March, Sumrow was convicted of another county of theft by a public servant. That time it was for stealing county money to buy computer equipment for personal use. He was sentenced to four years in prison for that conviction.
Sumrow has appealed the March conviction and was free on bond at the time of his June trial.
He had been suspended from office during the appeal process. Although he appealed the June conviction as well, he was ineligible for bond on it.
Read MoreFormer Lake Alfred Florida Ken Derrick And Former State Attorney Clerk Ex-Wife Kristie Derrick Charged With Insurance Fraud
June 19th, 2008
BARTOW, FLORIDA - The ex-husband of a former State Attorney’s Office employee who was charged earlier this year with insurance fraud now faces the same charge himself.
The charges against Ken Derrick, 37, are the fallout of his call to the Winter Haven Police Department about a fully clothed officer he found in the home he and his ex-wife shared.
Derrick, a former Lake Alfred police officer, was arrested Monday. He is accused of using health insurance in the name of his ex-wife, Kristie, to pay his medical bills.
Derrick was released from the Polk County Jail on Monday, after posting $1,000 bail.
Kristie Derrick, 34, was arrested in May on the same charge.
LISTED AS ‘SPOUSE’
Kristie Derrick was fired from her job as a clerk in the State Attorney’s Office last year after being accused of falsifying insurance records by telling her insurer that she was still married.
Read MoreBaton Rouge Louisiana Deputy Sheriff Delloyd Burke, A Former Veteran New Orleans Police Officer, Arrested, Fired, And Charged After Being Found With A Truck Stolen In New Orleans During Hurricane Katrina
June 16th, 2008
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - A former New Orleans police officer who was working as a Baton Rouge deputy constable has been fired after detectives say he was found in possession of a truck stolen from New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Delloyd Burke, 40, was charged with malfeasance in office and illegal possession of stolen things.
East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputies say Burke had a black Ford F-150 that was reported stolen from the New Orleans area in the days leading up to the landfall of Hurricane Katrina.
The EBR sheriff’s department says Burke served nine years with the New Orleans Police Department and has been employed with the Baton Rouge Constable’s Office for the past four months.
Deputies say City Constable Reginald Brown, Sr. fired Burke Monday morning before sheriff’s deputies arrested him.
He was taken to parish prison for booking.
Read MoreNew York City Corrections Officer William Walsh Pleads Guilty After Payroll Scheme
June 16th, 2008
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - District Attorney Robert Johnson Sunday announced that a New York City Correction Officer has admitted that he wrongfully collected over two thousand dollars in paid leave from his job on Rikers Island.
Johnson said that William Walsh, 47, of Coram, New York, pled guilty to one count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the 2nd degree, a Class D felony offense.
The guilty plea was entered before Acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett who set sentencing for Monday, September 15, 2008. Under terms of the plea agreement, Walsh must make full restitution to the NYC Department of Correction in the amount of $2,016 by the day of sentencing. Justice Barrett has indicated that once restitution is made Walsh will be given a Conditional Discharge.
Read MoreFormer Camanche Nation Oklahoma Police Chief Ray Anderson Sentenced To Just 5 Months In Federal Prison For Embezzling Money
June 9th, 2008
OKLAHOMA - The former police chief for the Comanche Nation was sentenced today to five months in federal prison.
Ray Anderson stepped down from his post as police chief in March when he admitted to embezzling money meant for the tribe.
Anderson, 55, apologized in federal court in Oklahoma City for abusing the tribe’s trust in him.
“I made a mistake and I’m sorry,” he said.
Anderson was accused of setting up a bank account without the tribe’s approval in November 2004, according to court papers. He deposited money given to the police department into the account, but spent the money on gambling, meals and gifts, prosecutors said. His actions cost the tribe more than $50,000.
Anderson asked U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron not to send him to prison, but the judge said such punishment was necessary to deter other tribal officials or law enforcement officers from committing the same crime.
Read MoreFormer New Hampshire DARE Treasurer, Police Sgt. Barbara Mack-Kenney Pleads Guilty To Theft
May 31st, 2008
CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — A former police sergeant has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from a police organization and has been sentenced to six months in jail.
Barbara Mack-Kenney of Woodstock, pleaded guilty in Grafton County Superior Court to two counts of theft. She’s the former treasurer of the New Hampshire DARE Officers Association, an independent organization of police officers who assist in the training of DARE officers throughout the state.
The organization is separate from the New Hampshire DARE program. The NHDOA funds are not state funds.
Mack-Kenney was sentenced Friday to a year, with six months suspended on the first charged. She was given a suspended one-to-three-year sentence on the second charge.
Mack-Keeney also paid almost $15,000 in restitution, and agreed to be decertified as a law enforcement officer. Appeared Here
Vivian Louisiana Police Officer Billy Washington Arrested, Charged With Burglary After Stealing Furniture For His Home
May 21st, 2008
Billy Washington, 46, of Dixie-Blanchard Road, was arrested by Caddo Parish sheriff’s deputies on a burglary charge.
The woman who lived in the mobile home told sheriff’s investigators she had to temporarily move out of her mobile home in Vivian because of a utility problem. When she checked on her property several months later, she found a freezer, two chests, a bed frame, end table and a mirror gone, deputies said.
Deputies said most of the property was taken to a mobile home where Washington lived. When detectives began investigating, it was moved to another residence in Vivian, deputies said.
Washington and a former family member, Charles Watson, 41, of Vivian, were booked Monday on simple burglary charges. Appeared Here
Former Atherton And Palo Alto California Police Officer Clark Yee Charged With False Police Reports, Burglary, And Possession Of Stolen Propery After Stealing And Selling Golf Clubs
May 20th, 2008
Daly City resident Clark Yee, 29, is charged with two counts of making false police reports, one count of second-degree burglary and one count of possession of stolen property. He faces a maximum of five years in state prison if convicted of all the charges.
The case began Oct. 23, according to prosecutors, when someone stole 14 golf clubs out of a vehicle parked in an Atherton driveway. Weeks later, the victim spotted 12 of his stolen clubs for sale at Golf Mart in South San Francisco. Sales records revealed Yee had traded them for store credit, said Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Prosecutors believe Yee then concocted a story that a man named Omar sold him the clubs on craigslist.org.
Dumbass Ashbury Park New Jersey Police Officer Ferron McGee’s Career Ended Before It Began - Pleads Guilty To $9K+ Unemployment Fraud
May 19th, 2008
Ferron McGee, 26, admitted to receiving unemployment funds totaling $3,490 from January 2006 to May 2006 while training to become a police officer for the city and receiving pay from the department, said Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin.
Valentin said McGee also admitted to collecting $5,590 in unemployment insurance benefits from December 2004 to March 2005 while he was a full-time student at William Paterson University in Wayne.
McGee was scheduled to graduate from the Monmouth County Police Academy and begin his police duties a month after his arrest in May 2006, when he was charged with one count of theft by deception, Valentin said.
In March, a grand jury indictment charged him with two counts of theft by deception and one count of unsworn falsification to authorities.
New Orleans Louisiana Police Officer Rydell Diggs Arrested, Suspended, Charged With Beating Motorist And Taking Money
May 15th, 2008
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - A New Orleans Police Officer has been arrested for beating and taking money from a motorist at a traffic stop.After an investigation by the Public Integrity Bureau, the NOPD arrested Rydell Diggs, a seven-year veteran of the force, according to a statement by the NOPD.
The investigation began after a motorist complained to police that Diggs had beaten and taken money from the complainant at a traffic stop. The Integrity Bureau launched an investigation, locating a witness which led to the arrest, according to the NOPD.
Police said that Officer Diggs was immediately placed on administrative reassignment pending the outcome of the investigation.
After completing the investigation, the information was sent to the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office
Diggs was charged with aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon, theft of U.S. currency of $300 and malfeasance in office.
Read MoreFormer Los Angeles California Police Officer Ruben Palomares Sentenced To Just 13 Years In Federal Prison For Being Ringleader Of Police Officers And Former Officers Who Staged Robberies That Looked Like Police Raids
May 15th, 2008
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - A former LAPD officer was sentenced to more than 13 years in a federal prison Monday for his leader role in a ring of law enforcement officers who took part in home invasion robberies staged to look like police raids.
The former group’s ring leader, Ruben Palomares, 38, admitted being the mastermind of more than 40 phony raids from early 1999 to June 2001 at homes in working-class neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
U.S. District Judge Gary Allen Feess sentenced him to 158 months in federal prison.
Along with Palomares, members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Long Beach Police Department and California Department of Corrections took part in the raids.
Palomares also recruited civilians, friends and family members, including a 34-year-old cousin, Gabriel Loaiza, who was also sentenced Monday. Feess gave Loaiza nine years in federal prison.
Read MoreDisgraced Former Shelton Connecticut Police Officer Thomas Chickos Charged With Acting As On-Duty Lookout During Theft By A Friend
May 15th, 2008
SHELTON, CONNECTICUT - A former Shelton police officer is being accused of acting as a lookout while on duty as a friend allegedly stole equipment.
Police said Thomas Chickos, 26, was charged with aiding and abetting larceny and making a false statement.
Cell phone records lined Chickos to Jason Dennis, 28, who is accused of the thefts, police said.
sponsor
Dennis pleaded guilty to first-degree larceny in the May 2007 thefts.
Chickos resigned in June 2007, before an internal affairs investigation.
He is free on $5,000 bond.
Eau Claire Wisconsin Police Department Records Supervisor Quits After Admitting To Thefts From Department
May 2nd, 2008
EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN - The supervisor of the records division in the Eau Claire Police Department resigned from her position April 7 after she admitted taking about $1,100 over about a five-month period from the division’s soda pop fund.
Leanne P. Doelle-Kent, 38, on that day paid back all the money she had taken.
Kent chose to resign after Police Chief Jerry Matysik and Deputy Police Chief Eric Larsen gave her the option of resigning or being terminated.
The Police Department investigated the incident and forwarded its reports to the Eau Claire County district attorney’s office for review for possible criminal charges.
Matysik said he made no recommendation to the DA’s office on whether charges should be filed.
Read MoreCollier County Florida Tax Worker Kimberly Dunsmore Sentenced To Just 2 1/2 Years In Prison After Stealing $212,000 To Pay For Plastic Surgery
July 6th, 2007
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA - A former Collier County tax worker who embezzled $212,000, partly to pay for plastic surgery, was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 years in state prison followed by 15 years of probation — a term that will enable her to pay off what she stole.
Collier Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier imposed the sentence on Kimberly Dunsmore, 38, of 2681 Sixth Ave. S.E., Golden Gate Estates, after rejecting arguments by defense attorney Robert Harris.
Harris urged house arrest or probation, saying Dunsmore still needed further breast surgery due to complications from childbirth, was needed at home to care for her three children, ages 11 months, 3, and 11, and must work to pay restitution.
But Krier agreed with Assistant State Attorney Jerry Brock that Dunsmore had shown no remorse and called her actions — changing computer entries and forging documents — highly sophisticated.
Read MoreFired Lee County Florida Deputy Sheriff Troy Hale Admits To Bogus Traffic Stops - Charged With Robbing Motorists
August 27th, 2006
LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA - A Lee County Sheriff’s deputy arrested and fired earlier this month after being accused of stealing money from a group of men he pulled over has admitted to his bosses that he conducted similar stops on at least five occasions, according to the sheriff’s office.
In an Internal Affairs report released today by the Sheriff’s Office, former Deputy Troy Hale said he targeted Hispanic drivers because they were less likely to call police. He said he pulled over five or six groups of Hispanics from Aug. 7 of this year until he was caught in early October.
Hale, 24 was fired earlier this month after a group of Hispanic men said he pulled them over in the East Fort Myers area and took $1,150 from them. A few days later, another group of Hispanic men said he had stolen $470 from them. In each instance, Hale, a former marine, was charged with grand theft.
Read MoreDo-Nothing State Attorney Steve Russell Doesn’t Charge Fired Naples Florida Police Officers Joe Popka And Drew McGregor With Using Bogus College Degrees In Payroll Boosting Schemes
August 12th, 2006
NAPLES, FLORIDA - Criminal charges won’t be filed against two former Naples police officers who were fired in July for submitting degrees from a diploma mill to obtain pay increases.
But State Attorney Steve Russell’s decision, announced Friday, won’t affect the former officers’ standing with the city, officials said.
Joe Popka, who was a sergeant with the Naples Police and Emergency Services Department, and Drew McGregor, formerly a community policing officer, were fired on July 14 for submitting degrees in criminal justice from Almeda University to qualify for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s salary incentive program. The program boosts an officer’s pay by $80 a month if he or she has a bachelor’s degree.
Almeda University offers online degrees for “life experience” that can be purchased for $595 and obtained in days. But degrees from Almeda are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, the Council for Higher Education or FDLE.
Read More