Two more Tarrant County deputies have been charged for reportedly stealing from the county.
The three deputies were paid to work overtime in the jail due to the department’s staffing shortages. However, they allegedly clocked many more hours than they actually worked.
Earlier this week, only one Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy was charged with stealing from the county. Brennan Cox, 28, purportedly stole upward of $150,000 between 2020 and 2024, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. He is facing a third-degree felony theft charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Now, Akila Desire Reynolds, 32, is being accused of stealing roughly $29,000, according to jail records obtained by WFAA. Reynolds is facing one count of theft of property. Additionally, John Edward Casey, 41, is facing one count of property theft for stealing about $26,200 by submitting unconfirmed overtime hours.
Jail records show that Casey was assigned to patrol, Reynolds worked in the courthouse, and Cox worked in operations.
The investigation began in May when an audit identified three deputies whose digital time-keeping records did not match the jail’s staffing records.
Cox was interviewed in June and asked to explain.
According to Cox, his wife started nursing school in August 2020, which required her to do clinicals over the weekend. After a few weeks of not working overtime, Cox realized the impact on his paycheck. He said he could not afford the salary cut and “just put it in” for the overtime hours during those weeks, according to WFAA.
However, the investigator claimed that Cox reported at least 1,701 untracked overtime hours, totaling a payout of nearly $87,000 between 2020 and 2024.
Like the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, the Dallas Police Department is facing internal staffing struggles with an ongoing shortage of officers, reported DX. With Dallas’ population being what it is, it was recommended that the department maintain a staff of roughly 4,000 officers by a prior City analysis. It currently has around 3,000 sworn officers on the force.
Relatedly, City officials have allocated DPD much less taxpayer money than police departments in other high-crime cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. The Dallas City Council approved a budget of just $654 million this fiscal year for DPD.