$200,000 Theft Ends Oregon Cop's 14-Year Career
A 14-year veteran Oregon police Captain was arrested on federal criminal charges for stealing more than $200,000 in government funds during an eighteen-month period.
In 2002, Scott Beard was hired as a deputy sheriff for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, (DCSO) in Bend, Oregon. He eventually promoted to the rank of Captain in 2012.
When an internal audit showed that county money was missing, an investigation was launched. Ultimately, on February 18, 2016, a federal Grand Jury returned a five-count
Indictment against Beard, 45, charging him with theft, money laundering, and passport fraud. He was fired two days later and booked into the Deschutes County Jail to await a court appearance on Monday, February 23, 2016.
Beard submitted overstated and fake funding requests for a regional drug task force that he supervised, according to investigators. He is accused of stealing more than $200,000 between January 2014 and September 2015.
Investigators also discovered that Beard had a romantic relationship with DCSO
employee Krista Murdick, 35. She served as a reserve deputy, a civil technician and field law enforcement technician, before being terminated with Beard on February 20, 2016.
Beard gave Murdick at least $100,000, according to the Indictment. In October 2015 interviews with FBI and IRS agents, Murdick denied that she and Beard had a romantic
relationship or that he had paid for her Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a trip overseas.
According to the Indictment, however, Beard paid $6,700 in cash for Murdick's
motorcycle. Some of the money was also spent on cosmetic surgeries for her, investigators found. Murdick was indicted on a single count of lying to investigators.
"We will root out those employees that don't follow out mission and values," Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson, told the Bend Bulletin newspaper.
Murdick told the Bulletin that she wanted the public to know that she is "a good person" and that she only accepted Beard's "help." Beard's attorney, Erick Ward declined to comment.
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