Six members of the Metropolitan Police Department engaged in overtime fraud costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to D.C. officials. Attorney General Brian Schwalb stated.
Schwalb claimed that five current or former officers and a civilian employee falsified overtime claims and obtained a total of $441,137 in unearned pay. They are accused of falsifying authorization and manipulating official overtime records.
“These six officers abused their positions of power, exploiting the District and the residents for whom they took an oath to serve and protect,” the attorney general said in a statement. “No one is above the law, especially those trusted with enforcing it.”
MPD Internal Affairs started an investigation after discovering unusually high levels of claimed overtime and anomalies between reported labor and independent verification.
The inquiry turned up hundreds of dubious OT claims and payments for unworked hours while the defendants were assigned to the 5th District, according to the AG. An I-Team source confirmed that three of the officers have retired.
The accused face charges of first-degree fraud, first-degree theft, forgery, and uttering, all of which entail the use of a false or altered document with the intent to commit fraud.
The case will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
“While the Home Rule Act does not grant my office the jurisdiction to directly prosecute these cases, through our partnership with the USAO, we are able to protect taxpayer dollars and root out local public corruption,” Schwalb stated in the statement. “I encourage DC residents to report suspected public corruption to my office.”
The defendants allegedly used strategies such as claiming overtime while outside of the District, including while traveling, and while on leave, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office.
“Every day, we rely on law enforcement to keep the public trust. “These MPD members betrayed that trust by conspiring to collect unearned, undeserved income, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement. “They will be held accountable, and my office remains focused on rooting out fraud and protecting the American taxpayer.”
D.C. police made no comment on the ongoing case.
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