DENVER — A second Denver Police officer charged in connection to a wage theft scheme pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on Friday.
Officer Santana Pineda, 27, pleaded guilty to theft ($1,000 to 2,000), which is a misdemeanor, and had a felony charge of theft ($2,000 to $5,000) dismissed by prosecutors, according to court records.
He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $4,324.61 in restitution and $1,200 for a probation supervision fee.
Pineda is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal review, Denver Police said.
Santana Pineda and his father Michael Pineda, who is also a Denver Police officer, were taken into custody in July 2022 after an investigation conducted by DPD Internal Affairs.
Police said the investigation began after discovering the officers were not present at a scheduled, non-department paid, off-duty job on April 15, 2022.
>The video above is from August 2022.
Investigators received hours of surveillance video provided by the private employer and compared it to the officers' timesheets. DPD said they identified 23 shift discrepancies for Michael Pineda valued at $5,070 and 18 shift discrepancies for Santana Pineda valued at $3,751.50.
The officers began working off-duty for the business in October 2021, but video confirms their actual hours worked only went back as far as Feb. 28, 2022, according to DPD.
Michael Pineda, 52, also admitted to one count of theft ($1,000 to $2,000) in December and had a charge of felony theft ($2,000 to $5,000) dismissed by prosecutors.
He was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $5,782 in restitution.
Police said in December that Pineda's administrative review could move forward after the criminal case has been adjudicated.
Pineda, who was on non-paid administrative leave, is suspended with pay pending the outcome of the review.
Michael Pineda joined the department in 2004, and Santana joined in 2019. Both were assigned to the DPD Patrol Division.
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