Detective accused of working while collecting injury payLOS ANGELES - A veteran LAPD detective was arrested Tuesday after a 16-month investigation showed he was moonlighting as a security guard while collecting thousands of dollars in workers' compensation, authorities said.
Gil Barrow, 37, who works out of the Rampart Community Police Station and makes at least $75,000 a year, was supposed to be recuperating from an on-duty knee injury.
But for six of the nine months he was off, police said, Barrow made extra cash working for a private security firm.
He was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and attempted perjury and is the fifth Los Angeles Police Department employee accused of benefits-abuse in the last two years.
"The taxpayers of Los Angeles provide excellent benefits for police officers," Police Chief William Bratton said in a statement. "We take seriously any misuse of those benefits and pursue criminal charges when appropriate."
After supervisors became suspicious that Barrow might have prolonged his off-duty recovery time, investigators from the LAPD's Professional Standards Bureau secretly watched him several times as he worked as a guard while he was supposed to be recovering from his injury.
The perjury charge stems from
Barrow's testimony during an April 31, 2006, deposition related to his injuries. He is charged with grand theft, accused of receiving salary benefits under false pretenses. If convicted, he faces a maximum of five years in prison. His bail has been set at $30,000.
"Like all community members, we find it disturbing when an officer is accused of abusing this public trust and commits a crime against those he is sworn to protect," said Hank Hernandez, an attorney for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents more than 9,000 officers.
"While it is important to know all the facts in this case and not rush to judgment, we recognize that Los Angeles residents place their trust in law enforcement to uphold the law."
Last year, three LAPD employees were fired over benefits-abuse related charges and another was suspended for 15 days.
One of those employees, an officer assigned to Internal Affairs, was working as an armed security guard in the parking lot at Staples Center and at a concession area at Dodger Stadium in summer 2003. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
2 comments:
Rampart Division in the news again. What gives over there? Any thoughts on why it's such a bad newz magnet?
Total anomaly. This dick has not been working for a couple years. Most kids at the station have no idea who the hell he is. His passport photo from his package was enlarged on a copy machine and floated around the station and still most coppers had no idea who it was. Since the ‘Perez’ deal (who happened to work Rampart), they’ve staffed it with some of the greatest cops in the city coupled with mostly competent bosses. Having worked at 2Adam (Rampart) I can tell you that the area is a Dante’s Paradise. Misery on every corner, every block, everyday. But the cops are decent, honest and I enjoyed my time there.
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