DENVER (AP) — A former police officer in suburban Denver has been sentenced to two years in jail, with work release, for stealing nearly $25,000.
The Denver Post reports 48-year-old Leonard Portugal, who worked for the Mountain View Police Department, was sentenced Wednesday on charges of embezzlement and trying to influence a public servant.
Prosecutors say that between January 2015 to June 2016, he submitted at least 31 falsified documents and time sheets for overtime hours provided by state grant funds. As a result, he was paid nearly $25,000 in public money that he was not entitled to.
He will spend four years on probation after he is released, and prosecutors have requested that he pay $24,095 in restitution.