Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office detectives identified Custody Sergeant Jeffrey Koeller, who worked out of the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria, as allegedly fraudulently claiming and being compensated for hours he did not work, totaling $93,000 worth of pay.
After an arrest warrant was issued, Koeller turned himself in Thursday to the Santa Maria Substation and was booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail on charges of embezzlement by a public officer, grand theft, and forgery.
Koeller’s arrest originated from a wider Sheriff’s Office investigation that followed after the arrest of Custody Sergeant Segun Ogunleye back in January for similar crimes.
Ogunleye, who worked in the Santa Barbara County Jail in a supervisory role where he reviewed and approved overtime, had allegedly received $175,000 in pay for falsified time cards. He is being tried for 114 counts of misappropriation of public funds, grand theft, false entries in records, and money laundering, which he pleads not guilty to.
Sheriff investigators reviewed a total of 688 timecards with declared overtime hours, and only one, Koeller’s, came back as suspicious, launching a second criminal investigation and resulting in his arrest. There is also an ongoing administrative investigation into Koeller, which has placed him on paid administrative leave.
“This employee’s actions betrayed the public’s trust and our agency. They do not reflect the character of our Sheriff’s Office, or the honest work performed every day by our employees,” said Sheriff Bill Brown.
The Sheriff’s Office says that it has “implemented enhanced internal review controls and oversight measures designed to strengthen accountability, improve timecard review processes by supervisors, and help prevent any similar misconduct.”
