Former Shreveport Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Charge of Wire Fraud

Former Shreveport Police Department officer Jeffrey L.
Peters, 55, of Shreveport, pleaded guilty today to one count of wire fraud, announced United
States Attorney Brandon B. Brown. United States Magistrate Judge Mark L. Hornsby
presided over the guilty plea hearing which was held in United States District Court.
While employed as a Lieutenant with the Shreveport Police Department (SPD), as
part of Peters’ duties, he was allowed to work overtime on the Community-Based Crime
Reduction (CBCR) Program. The CBCR is a grant program administered by the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ) that pays officers at 1.5 times their normal hourly rate for
overtime worked.
According to information presented in court, between January 2020 and January 2021,
Peters and a fellow supervisor (Officer 1) devised a scheme to defraud the SPD by claiming
overtime for hours they had not worked. Peters and Officer 1 would each fill out and sign a
Report of Overtime which stated they worked a specific time and date on the CBCR grant.
Peters, in his role as Officer 1’s supervisor, would certify that Officer 1 had actually worked
the dates and times listed on the Report of Overtime. Peters would also create and submit an
SPD activity report which would falsely state that he and Officer 1 were doing patrols in
District 3, an area around SPD Headquarters. On these reports, Peters and Officer 1 were the
only officers listed. When in truth and in fact, neither Peters nor Officer 1 were working
overtime for SPD.
Peters submitted false Reports of Overtime and Activity Reports on over 50 dates
falsely claiming he worked overtime that he had not. He was paid for hours he did not work
in is bi-weekly paychecks which were deposited into his own personal account. Peters
received a total of $13,084.74 in overtime that he was not entitled to receive.
Peters faces a sentence of not more than 20 years in prison, 3 years of supervised
release, and a fine of up to $250,000. His sentencing has been set for May 16, 2024.
The case was investigated by FBI, DOJ-Office of Inspector General, and Internal
Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney
Seth D. Reeg.