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Officer resigns over her timecard

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published August 30, 2006

PINELLAS PARK - A police officer resigned Thursday after being accused of falsifying her timecard over a period of at least two years.

Cassandra Hall, 29, a 4½ year member of the Police Department, agreed last week to give up her final paycheck and all accrued pension contributions as a partial payment for the estimated $10,000-plus the city lost.

In return for the partial reimbursement and resignation, police agreed to "forever forego any and all criminal prosecution regarding alleged misappropriation of monies paid to me during my employment with the city of Pinellas Park, even if subsequent investigation reveals additional monies being allegedly owed," according to Hall's "voluntary" resignation.

Pinellas Park Police Chief Dorene Thomas said the city decided not to prosecute because "this way she would not have to make payments ....We figured that the city does get the money back or a good portion of it."

The forfeited paycheck and pension amount to more than $8,000, Thomas said. Hall was earning about $40,098 annually when she resigned.

Thomas said it will be up to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to decide whether Hall will be able to keep her police certification.

"They could very well start proceedings," Thomas said.

Hall could not be reached for comment.

Police Capt. Michael Haworth said the alleged wrongdoing came to light when one of Hall's supervisors began examining her time records because "he thought there might be an issue with chronic absenteeism."

Instead, he found that Hall was not keeping a proper account of hours she worked, Thomas said.

Hall was "putting hours on her timecard that she didn't work," Thomas said. "She was actually not working. Not on the schedule and not in the system but put on her timecard that she was working."

Investigators found a few questionable entries during 2003, but can definitely pin down frequent occurrences in 2004 and 2005, according to Thomas and Haworth. More than 500 hours of falsified time was discovered, they said.

"We've taken precautions to see that it doesn't happen again, that it was an isolated incident," Thomas said.

New procedures now require documentation when officers call in sick or ask for unexpected time off. That way, Thomas said, payroll knows to look for the paperwork that shows time off has been taken.

Hall is the second Pinellas Park police officer to resign in recent weeks. Last month, Jason Nosal resigned the same day he was charged with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The charge, a misdemeanor, arose from a July 5 incident in which a woman called the Largo Police Department to report that a man had followed her home and was still in his car in her driveway.

Largo police responded and found Nosal passed out behind the wheel, they said. They used a Taser on Nosal when, they said, he woke up and began thrashing around.

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 22:12:20]