GBPD Officer Arrested

By Ihosvani Rodriguez, Sun Sentinel

3:46 p.m. EST, January 6, 2011
E-mail Print Share Text Size fl-golden-beach-arrest-20110106
A Golden Beach police official has been arrested on charges he committed fraud and grand theft that cost the luxury community thousands of dollars.

Officer Lyndean Peters, 45, of Fort Lauderdale, turned himself in Wednesday to the Miami-Dade County Jail. The former Golden Beach sergeant is charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, one count of grand theft, one count of insurance fraud and 11 counts of official misconduct.

According to officials, the investigation of Peters began in 2009, when allegations surfaced that he had worked off-duty overtime details while on duty.

Peters also altered city reimbursement invoices, and failed to compensate the city for administrative costs relating to the number of off-duty hours that he worked, according to reports to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade Police Department.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stay on top of the news: Get breaking new alerts sent directly to your phone
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The city's total loss was $2,377.62.

The insurance fraud charge concerns Peters' statement to an insurance company about an on-duty automobile crash.

Peters said his K-9 partner was no longer fit for duty as a result of the crash. In fact, the animal had already been designated medically unfit before the accident, according to a news release Thursday from the FDLE.

In a statement released Thursday, Golden Beach Mayor Glenn Singer said Peters has been suspended without pay and benefits. He will remain off the force he joined in 2007 pending the outcome of the criminal case and an internal investigation by town officials, according to the mayor's statement.

Peters joined the department in 2007, and was a sergeant until Nov 2010 when he was reassigned to the K-9 patrol, Golden Beach Police officials said on Thursday.

State records show Peters was a Pembroke Pines Police officer in 1990, but left the department a year later under "unfavorable" reasons.