To Serve, Protect ..... and cash in.
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
The former public information officer for the Jackson County Sheriff's Office was charged Wednesday with four felony counts of forgery and three misdemeanor counts of theft.
Lane T. Eitel, 54, of Lee's Summit, resigned from the sheriff's office earlier this month.
Eitel is accused of filing false overtime reports and false traffic tickets, according to court documents. The false ticket writing occurred between Nov. 22 and Dec. 22, 2010, according to prosecutors.
The former sheriff's office sergeant assigned himself to work 15 days in December to provide extra traffic enforcement near Indian Creek Elementary School in the Center School District. He was suppose to work from 2 p.m. through 5 p.m. on those days, according to court documents.
However, another sheriff's office deputy reported seeing Eitel's patrol car in his driveway, according to court documents. The deputy recorded this on his patrol car video system. Prosecutors say Eitel submitted documentation seeking overtime pay when he had not worked the hours.
Eitel is accused of submitting forms showing he warned 49 motorists for traffic violations near the school from Nov. 22 through Dec. 22, according to court documents.
However, the 49 residents told authorities that they had not been warned by Eitel, prosecutors allege.
"Most citizens also reported verifiable whereabouts for those dates and times indicating that they could not possibly have been in the area where Sgt. Eitel alleged to have stopped them," according to court documents. "Some of the citizens recalled that they had been stopped by a member of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department but on dates much further in the past."
Sheriff's Office personnel allege that Eitel had access to database records that store identifying information on residents issued traffic tickets in the past.
"Sgt. Eitel's issuance of false warning of violations caused these citizens to have new entries in the Jackson County Sheriff's Office Departments records system for a traffic violation, which had not occurred," according to court documents.
The Sheriff's Office paid Eitel an additional $114.12 a day for time he did not work, according to court documents.
The current spokeswoman for Sheriff Mike Sharp could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.
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