Workers Compensation Fraud—Ohio

Amount: Unknown

A former Newcomerstown Police Officer has entered pleas of not guilty to several charges that resulted from an allegedly fabricated story that he was shot in the line of duty in April of this year. News reports from the day of the shooting state that the officer was shot in the line of duty while investigating a possible mobile meth lab. The shooting apparently happened during a traffic stop of a black Geo Tracker with blacked out windows and no visible license plate. When the officer approached the vehicle the passenger opened fire on the officer, shooting him in the chest and arm. The officer was wearing his bullet-proof vest at the time and was treated and released that same afternoon.

The prosecutor alleges that the former police officer shot himself in a failed suicide attempt, and then covered it up by claiming that he was shot by a man in a vehicle during a traffic stop. Many law enforcement agencies were involved in a search for the vehicle. The former officer later admitted to investigators that he had fabricated the incident.