LAUSD Shooting Hoax Officer Gets Five Years
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Dec 16, 2011 - 12:17:46 AM
Jeffrey Stenroos. Photo courtesy of LAPD.
WOODLAND HILLS—On Wednesday, December 14, the former Los Angeles Unified School District police officer found guilty of making up that he was shot in his chest by an unknown man earlier in the year outside of El Camino Real High School was sentenced to serve five years in county jail.
Jude Richard H. Kirschner sentenced 31-year-old Stenroos of Santa Clarita, Calif. to the aforementioned prison term, but he could serve only two years if he meets the terms of his probation. And the sentence could be even less given the jail time he has already served. Stenroos, who pleaded not guilty in May, was further ordered to serve 400 hours of community service.
"I know what I say is only words, but my actions today, tomorrow and in the future will show my remorse," he told the judge. After calling himself a disgrace to the badge, Stenroos apologized to the Los Angeles Police Department, the LAUSD and to the community for his actions.
He was at first facing an additional eight months in state prison, but this was dropped by prosecutors as a result of Governor Jerry Brown signing Assembly Bill 109 into law, which shifts low-level offenders from state to county custody to ease prison overcrowding, as mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in May.
In a non-jury trial in September, Stenroos was found guilty of five felony charges including insurance fraud, workers' compensation fraud, preparing false documentary evidence, preparing a false police report and planting false evidence. He was also found guilty of one misdemeanor charge for falsely reporting an emergency.
At a May 13 arraignment, Deputy District Attorney Paul Nunez told the presiding judge that the city is seeking $361,289.51 in restitution for expenditures entailed in responding to the shooting incident and in trying to find Stenroos' alleged shooter. A restitution hearing to recover these expenditures will be held on January 19.
Restitution receipt courtesy of Councilman Dennis P. Zine.
The LAPD has itemized its expenditures as follows: $45,225 for 201 responding officers, $45,450 for 202 relief shift officers, $23,400 for 520 hours of robbery homicide officers' time, $152,679.50 for 18.5 hours expended by air support, and $165,283 incurred in overhead. Expenditures of the Los Angeles Fire Department include $65,198.58 for one chief, one captain, two engines, two trucks, two pumps and five ambulances deployed. On top of these expenditures, the Department of Transportation incurred $1,053 for eight traffic officers. And $58,000 is being sought by the LAUSD for incurred medical costs.
Nine thousand students were locked down at El Camino Real High School on January 19 for 10 hours after LAPD received reports that Stenroos had been shot in the chest. Nine schools were locked down as officers from the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol, FBI and ATF looked for the alleged shooter. On January 27, LAPD investigators determined that the shooting incident was a hoax and arrested Stenroos.
"He not only wasted precious city resources and inconvenienced tens of thousands of people, but he also abused the public's trust and shamed the professional standards upheld by law enforcement agencies," Councilman Dennis P. Zine, who represents Woodland Hills and adjacent neighborhoods, said in a statement released in May.
"To fabricate this event is unconscionable and I am working to make sure the City is paid its due restitution," Zine said.
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