LAPD Officer Receives Jail for Workers’ Compensation Fraud
A veteran police officer was sentenced to 180 days in jail Tuesday for collecting disability payments while she worked as a security guard at Staples Center and Dodger Stadium during the summer of 2003.
Mariana Carmen Gallegos, 36, the first officer in the Los Angeles Police Department to be convicted of workers’ compensation fraud, was also ordered to pay $11,191 in restitution.
Gallegos was relieved of duty without pay pending an internal hearing by the LAPD Board of Rights.
The board will decide whether to recommend her termination to Chief William J. Bratton, said Jason Lee, a spokesman for the LAPD.
A jury deliberated for about 30 minutes last month before convicting Gallegos, an officer for nine years, of concealing information and workers’ compensation fraud before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Anita H. Dymant.
On June 26, 2003, Gallegos underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, the result of an on-duty injury in 1998, and was placed on injured status. Gallegos began working as a security guard on July 19, 2003.
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