Yesterday a federal court judge sentenced former Boston police officer, Craig Smalls, to two years of probation for fraudulently inflating his work hours at the department’s evidence warehouse. Additionally, the judge ordered Smalls to repay the money he unlawfully pocketed, a total amount of $16,252.
According to a press release from the U.S. District Attorney’s office:
From at least January 2015 through September 2016, Smalls submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips for overtime hours that he did not work for two overtime shifts at the evidence warehouse. The first, called āpurgeā overtime, was a 4 ā 8 p.m. weekday shift intended to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. The second shift, called ākioskā overtime, involved driving to each police district in Boston one Saturday a month to collect old prescription drugs to be burned. For the āpurgeā shift, Smalls claimed to have worked from 4 ā 8 p.m., but he routinely left at 6 p.m., or earlier. For the ākioskā shift, Smalls submitted overtime slips claiming to have worked eight-and-one-half hours, when in fact he and, allegedly, other members of the unit only worked three-to-four hours of those shifts.
At least 15 officers have been charged with inflating the time slips in Boston’s evidence warehouse. Smalls is the third of those charged to be sentenced.