California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) announced on Thursday charges against 54 current and former California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers he says were involved in a two-year overtime fraud scheme that netted them more than $225,000.
In a press release, Bonta said CHP officers with the East Los Angeles station exaggerated the number of overtime hours they worked, resulting in 302 criminal counts, including charges of grand theft and the presentation of a fraudulent claim.
“Trust is a critical part of successful law enforcement,” Bonta said in a statement. “These defendants disregarded the law through their alleged actions and did so without thought of how their conduct would impact the California Highway Patrol or the community that trusted them to protect and serve.
In 2018, CHP launched an investigation into alleged overtime fraud in response to incidents stretching from January 2016 to March 2018.
“During that period, multiple officers in the East Los Angeles station were suspected of recording additional overtime hours when they were assigned to provide protection detail” in maintenance and construction zone details, Bonta’s office said.
“For instance, rather than recording the three to four hours actually worked at a detail, an officer would allegedly record and receive pay for eight hours of overtime,” investigators continued.
Other officers recorded fake hours patrolling high occupancy travel lanes and “manufactured fake warnings and assistance given to drivers.”
All 54 defendants will be arraigned on March 17 and March 18 in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
CHP said in a statement to The Hill that those accused were placed on administrative leave and their “peace officer powers removed.”
“As a professional law enforcement agency which holds it employees to the highest of standards, the CHP takes all allegations of misconduct seriously,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “The CHP uncovered the overtime fraud in the East Los Angeles area several years ago during an internal examination.”
—Updated at 3:53 p.m.