Shreveport, Louisiana – Jeffrey L. Peters, 55, from Shreveport, Louisiana, and a former officer of the Shreveport Police Department was sentenced on May 16, 2024, for committing wire fraud. United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown made the announcement. United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. gave Peters a sentence of 3 years of supervised probation and required him to pay restitution totaling $13,084.74.

On January 12, 2024, Peters admitted to committing the offense during his time as a Lieutenant at the Shreveport Police Department (SPD). He took advantage of working extra hours on the Community-Based Crime Reduction (CBCR) Program, a grant initiative overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that compensates officers at 1.5 times their regular pay for overtime hours.

Between January 2020 and January 2021, Peters and another supervisor, James Cisco, came up with a plan to deceive the SPD by claiming overtime pay for hours they did not actually work. They would each complete and sign a form stating they worked specific dates and times on the CBCR grant. Peters, as Cisco’s supervisor, would confirm that Cisco had indeed worked those hours. Peters would also submit an activity report stating that he and Cisco were patrolling District 3 near SPD Headquarters, but in reality, neither of them were working overtime for the SPD.

Peter submitted inaccurate overtime and activity reports on more than 50 occasions, falsely stating that he worked extra hours which he did not. He was given payment for these hours in his bi-weekly paychecks, totaling $13,084.74, which were deposited into his personal account.

Cisco was also implicated in this case and received a sentence of one year of supervised probation. Additionally, Cisco was directed to pay restitution totaling $1,681.29 and a fine of $2,500.

The FBI, DOJ-Office of Inspector General, and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation looked into the case, and it was brought to court by Assistant United States Attorney Seth D. Reeg.