Former Boston police officer from Milton sentenced to prison for overtime fraud

BOSTON – A former Boston police officer from Milton was sentenced Tuesday in federal court for her role in overtime fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse, the U.S. attorney's office said .

Diana Lopez, 62, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Lopez was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $36,028 in restitution.

In June 2021, Lopez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft from programs receiving federal money and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal money.

Between January 2015 and February 2019, Lopez submitted fraudulent overtime slips for hours that she did not work at the evidence warehouse. The “purge” overtime was a 4 to 8 p.m. weekday shift intended to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. Lopez claimed to have worked from 4 to 8 p.m., but she routinely left at 6 p.m. or earlier, prosecutors said.

She collected about $36,028 for overtime hours she did not work during that period.

More than a dozen Boston police officers have been charged in connection with overtime fraud at the evidence warehouse, including officers from Quincy , Braintree , Canton , Randolph and Hanover . Lopez is the eighth officer to be sentenced.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Former Boston police officer from Milton sentenced to prison for overtime fraud