SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Scranton Police Officer, Jeffrey J. Vaughn, age 50, was charged yesterday by criminal information with one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
The information alleges that Vaughn, while working as a sergeant in the Scranton Police Department, which is an entity that receives over $10,000 a year in federal funding, knowingly obtained by fraud over $5,000 in compensation that was paid to him for certain extra duty patrol shifts at local, lower-income housing complexes that Vaughn claimed to work but did not in fact work.
The case was investigated by the Scranton Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Public Corruption Task Force, which consists of members of the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, and federal agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Jeffery St John is prosecuting the case.
The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 10 years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The charges contained in a criminal information are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
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