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Former Cop Pleads Guilty To Charity Theft
former-cop-charity

A former Aurora, Colo., police officer pleaded guilty to theft of money from a charity for orphans. Roland Albert was charged with stealing just short of $80,000 from the Aurora Police Orphans Fund ($71,147) and the Brotherhood of the Fallen ($7,753). He was treasurer for both of the charity funds.

Albert was arrested in Orlando, Fla., earlier this year and extradited back to Colorado. He was charged with two felony theft counts, one of which was dropped with the plea deal.

Albert resigned from the police department in 2018 during an investigation into the thefts and after local news reported allegations that he was married to two women at the same time.

The CBS affiliate in Denver reported money transfers were made from the orphans’ fund to Albert’s personal bank account. The orphans’ fund benefits families of officers who died while employed by the department. Aurora Police Department employees participated in payroll deductions to fund the charities.

As it turns out, thefts were not what started the situation to unravel. Albert quit the police department during an investigation of him being involved in polygamy. He had been on paid leave while the department investigated allegations that he was married to two people, which is illegal in Colorado. The investigation into the dual marriage is when the thefts were discovered, according to local media.

In a statement to local media, Aurora Brotherhood for the Fallen Vice President Crystal McCoy said that some of the money has been recovered through a civil judgement and wage garnishment.

“Our organization was not only stunned to learn about Roland’s actions, but we are angered. The choices Roland made reflects his character alone, and are not supported by our organization. As an organization we took swift action to recuperate our losses, and have taken several steps internally to prevent this from happening again in the future,” McCoy said in a statement to local media.