ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — 9 Investigates learned an Orange County Corrections corporal was recently fired, accused of stealing from taxpayers.
Pedro Bonilla allegedly padded his timesheet for months with hours he never worked.
Investigative reporter Daralene Jones, who got a tip about the allegations in February, obtained a copy of the investigative report.
The Orange County Jail would not release the report until now, because they were still interviewing 23 witnesses in the case, according to Jones.
Internal Investigators said that over a four-month period, Bonilla cheated the system by clocking in for more than 100 hours he never worked using a system known as Kronos.
According to the 40-page investigative report, Bonilla was caught only after her was spotted working overtime even though there was already enough staff on duty.
Investigators used surveillance photos and interviews with 23 other employees to build their case.
A chart with dates and times shows when Bonilla claimed to be working. During the same time, he was recorded on surveillance cameras leaving the jail and not returning until his next shift.
Emails document how Bonilla sometimes asked a supervisor to clock him in and out because he forgot to enter his own time for training drills.
In one email, Bonilla seemed to be writing from home, writing, "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I just woke up to turn down the blinds."
Investigators uncovered Bonilla used his supervisor's login at least 67 times between June and October 2014.
Bonilla's base pay was $19.76 an hour, and anytime he allegedly padded his time sheet with overtime he never worked, he made time and a half . That may have amounted to him collecting nearly $3,000 of taxpayer dollars he never earned.
Bonilla's attorney has not yet returned Jones' phone call for a response to this story.
Bonilla told the investigators that it "became a habit for him to pre-enter his punches using his supervisor's account to project his compensation for the pay period." He is appealing his termination.
WFTV
