A Florida sheriff's deputy was arrested Wednesday after allegedly faking severe COVID while her colleagues donated hundreds of sick leave hours to her.
Trent Kellee Freeman, 38, who worked as a detective for the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office, claimed she was hospitalized and forged doctors' notes, according to ABC Channel 20. Her boss, Gilchrist County Sheriff Bobby Schultz, told the station he was under the impression that Freeman was in a coma.
But Freeman was actually working at another full-time, private-sector job — which she applied for before submitting fraudulent Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) paperwork to the sheriff's office.
Following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Freeman was charged with two counts of uttering a forged instrument and one count of scheme to defraud.
According to Main Street Daily News, Freeman fraudulently solicited and received 219 sick leave hours from her colleagues, defrauding the sheriff's office out of $3,727.
“Obviously I’ve seen law enforcement officers get in trouble, (but) to this magnitude of what she did and how she took advantage of the goodness of her fellow employees is saddening,” Sheriff Schultz told Channel 20, adding that authorities will review cases Freeman handled as a deputy.
Freeman, who had been with the department since 2018, was fired on Oct. 15.
