11 Investigates Exclusive: Former police officer accused of stealing time

For the second time in less than a month, a former North Braddock police officer is facing criminal charges.

That former officer, who worked part-time, is now accused of falsifying time sheets and getting paid for hours she allegedly didn’t work.

When the acting chief took over last summer, he began reviewing time sheets. What he discovered led to an investigation by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office and now criminal charges against the former officer.

Officer Aishah Major resigned from North Braddock police along with the chief and other officers last summer in a dispute over regionalizing the department.

Now, the district attorney’s office has charged her with theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception.

“It’s disheartening because we have to trust them to a certain degree. it’s how our civilization works and when they break that trust it makes everyone distrust the police,” said North Braddock Borough Manager Jay Bish.

Investigators reviewed hours of surveillance footage from the police station cameras, and compared that to time sheets.

According to the criminal complaint, Major allegedly didn’t work the hours she said she did.

Investigators said there were also discrepancies between the time sheets and the county login system for police officers.

During a two-year stretch, investigators said Major was paid more than $30,000 for more than 60 shifts, they said, she never worked.

Major, in an interview with investigators defended her work history, claiming that she was, “…always at the police department, and even stayed/slept at the department…”

And in addition to policing, she told investigators she did other work including administrative duties, ‘juvenile stuff,” and uniform crime reporting reports.

Former police chief Isaac Daniele, in a phone interview, said the prosecution is politically motivated because he often clashed with borough leaders, and wouldn’t agree to their demands.

He also objected to regionalizing the department.

Daniele defended Major and said she often worked undercover surveillance after complaints about drug dealing and he didn’t want her logging into the county system in an effort to conceal her location when she was conducting surveillance operations.

This is the second time a former North Braddock police officer has been charged with a crime in the past month. Several weeks ago, former North Braddock officer Craig Gibson was accused by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office of dealing cocaine and using police resources to protect the supplier.

The borough manager said all of this is one of the reasons council decided to regionalize the department.  And after the second troubling arrest, he has a message for taxpayers.

“Don’t lose faith in us. We’re doing the best we can. We tried to fix the issues of the past so we can look to the future and start doing things in a much better way,” said Bish.

Major was released on her own recognizance.

She faces a preliminary hearing later this month.

11 Investigates reached out to Major but hasn’t heard back.

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