Tucson Fire Paramedic Indicted on Workshift Fraud
Dec. 18--A Tucson Fire paramedic has been indicted on four felonies for workshift fraud.
Herbert Oxnam was indicted on four counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices after a Tucson Police Department investigation revealed Oxnam "double billed" the city to spike his pension and earn a little extra money through overtime.
Oxnam's charges stem from paying fellow firefighters up to $200 to call in sick when Oxnam's name was at the top of the overtime list. This would "double bill" the city by paying twice for the same shift: sick leave to the scheduled employee and overtime to Oxnam.
Since Oxnam, a 19-year veteran, was approaching retirement and the final three years of income are used to calculate monthly pension benefits, the overtime dollars could boost his monthly retirement check.
Pension spiking by working overtime isn't illegal. But Oxnam engaged in fraud to pursue it by paying firefighters to call in sick.
Oxnam was paid $31,689 in overtime pay for 2013. His final salary for that year was $109,935.
TFD Chief James Critchley learned of the problem back in March and reported it to TPD.
TPD opened an investigation and turned it over to the Attorney General's Office.
The investigation revealed widespread "irregularities" on how the fire department conducted and documented shift trades and other types of leave.
Although widespread, the Attorney General's Office said TFD management's culture of lax oversight and murky personnel rules prevented others from being charged.
"TFD's institutional tolerance of shift trade/leave manipulations compounded by tacit managerial approval and/or poor oversight of documentation made criminal prosecution untenable," court documents show. "The undersigned prosecutor felt it would be an unjust exercise of prosecutorial discretion to single out one employee for conduct that was widely tolerated in the department."
Since Oxnam's fraud differed from TFD's everyday, dubious practices, the Attorney General's Office moved ahead with charges against him, court records show.
Critchley said he will now review the records and take the next steps.
"Now that the Grand Jury has issued an indictment, I will have an opportunity to view the criminal investigation records for the first time," Critchley wrote in an email. "An administrative process will determine personnel actions."
Critchley said he was unable to comment on personnel matters at this time.
Read more in tomorrow's Arizona Daily Star.
Contact reporter Darren DaRonco at 573-4243 or ddaronco@tucson.com. Follow on twitter @DarrenDaRonco?
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