1w ago

Fla. officer charged after allegedly faking 79 off-duty shifts for which he was paid more than $12K

www.police1.com Fla. officer charged after allegedly faking 79 off-duty shifts for which he was paid more than $12K

The officer, an investigator in the Sanford PD’s Professional Standards unit, was charged with 79 counts of official misconduct, as well as organized fraud

SANFORD, Fla. — A 23-year veteran and former spokesperson for the Sanford Police Department was arrested Tuesday after being paid thousands of dollars for allegedly fake off-duty work shifts.

Ronny Neal, an investigator in SPD’s Professional Standards unit, was charged with 79 counts of official misconduct. That’s one for each alleged instance of fraudulently submitting timesheets containing off-duty work at Lofts at Eden apartments between October 2023 and July 2024

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2 or 3 is the cops fault. 79 means that there is zero accountability happening, and this is probably the tip of the iceberg.
- This guy was apparently also responsible for keeping the records.
  The investigation leading to Neal’s arrest began after SPD’s finance department in July 2024 discovered a number of accounts where vendors appeared not to have reimbursed the department. Neal, who also served as off-duty detail coordinator, was asked to turn over invoices from those accounts, but many — in particular those from Lofts at Eden paying Neal for off-duty work — remained unresolved by the time the police administration was made aware of the issue in August of this year.
  
  Seattle has had a decades long struggle to get it's police guild, SPOG, to agree to oversight like... reporting hours in a timely manner. They've discovered dozens of examples of repeated overtime reported months late, because they use paper records and apparently have zero oversight. Beat cops pulling 200 or 300k with 'overtime'. The city council mandated a new system implementation in 2013 iirc and it still is being argued over.
  
  Lmao who the fuck thought that was a good idea?
- 79 times and he's only 23 years old. That guy is set to be a highly reguarded politician.
  E: 23 year old "veteran", 49 years old.
  
  I might be getting whooshed but 23-year veteran means he's been a cop for 23 years.
  
  Lemmitor: sees cop doing the most cop shit imaginable
  Also lemmitor: "Polichishuns amirite?"

“He also was … our lie detector guy,” Smith said. “Imagine that.”
If I had been subject to one of these tests at this department, I would be pole vaulting off this right into a courtroom.
- They're not admissible in court (because they're bullshit), and are basically just a prop the police use to coerce confessions - so I'm doubtful that this would be cause for appeal

Wow, they actually charged him. I thought this was usually a retire early situation and the prosecutor shrugs their shoulders?
- Usually yes, but he made the mistake of stealing from them

That’s one for each alleged instance of fraudulently submitting timesheets containing off-duty work at Lofts at Eden apartments between October 2023 and July 2024
Imagine how much money he ripped off from taxpayers over 23 years. Ffs.
- If $12K is all he managed over 79 instances, probably not nearly as much as you seem to be implying. He probably stuck to small-time stuff in hopes that if he was ever caught they'd rather hide it than embarrass themselves (as has historically been typically the case). Seems he bet wrong on that. Maybe things actually are improving, albeit in the most minimal of ways
- This was about him moonlighting as private security. He ripped off the people at the Lofts at Eden apartments, not the taxpayers.
  Edit: actually, I'm only kinda half-right. It's supposed to be the private entity on the hook for the cost, but apparently the money flows though the department anyway instead of the officer being directly employed by the private entity.
  Part of this guy's fraud (and I guess, how he hoped not to get caught, but which backfired) was that he wasn't actually charging the client.
  Typically, when Sanford officers are hired to provide security or perform other duties in their off-hours, the department pays the officers for that work and then seeks reimbursement from the hiring party.
  The investigation leading to Neal’s arrest began after SPD’s finance department in July 2024 discovered a number of accounts where vendors appeared not to have reimbursed the department. Neal, who also served as off-duty detail coordinator, was asked to turn over invoices from those accounts, but many — in particular those from Lofts at Eden paying Neal for off-duty work — remained unresolved by the time the police administration was made aware of the issue in August of this year.
- Yes it's a problem. Is it a nothing story compared to other problems? YES!

You know, for being a relatively small suburbia of Orlando they sure are in the news about.

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