On Monday the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office brought four felony charges against a Santa Barbara police officer related to workers compensation charges.

SBPD Officer Jacob Finerty was hired in September 2011, and in 2014 a workers compensation investigation began.

“This came to our attention I think in 2014 and we initiated an investigation, and it then began to take a criminal turn when there appeared there was some fraud involved here,” said interim Police Chief John Crombach.

Finerty has been out on leave relating to his workers comp claim, on and off since 2014.  He has been placed on unpaid leave, pending the trial.

The D.A.’s Office has filed four felony counts related to this case, two counts are for a fraudulent oral statement, and two counts are related to fraudulent written statements.

When the California Department of Insurance Declined to take the case, SBPD detectives investigated the case.  Upon the investigation the results were present to the DA.

District Attorney Joyce Dudley said the fact Finerty was a police officer wasn’t a consideration in the charges. Worker’s compensation fraud charges have been filed against other local government employees in the past, she said. In presentations to other government agencies and companies, “we make it clear that we’re in the business of investigating fraud on every level, including worker’s comp,” she said.

Source: NOOZHAWK