Summary

On June 4, 2014, Timothy J. Veit, former police commander, Des Plaines Police Department, Des Plaines, Illinois, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court, Chicago, Illinois, to one count of Embezzlement, relating to a scheme to defraud a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) funded program. Veit pleaded guilty to embezzling and knowingly converting NHTSA grant funds for his own use and for the use of others.

As the project director, Veit was responsible for certifying departmental compliance with NHTSA's participation requirements. Our investigation determined that from approximately 2009 through 2012, Veit made false statements in reports that concealed the police department's failure to meet the requirements of federally funded impaired driving enforcement campaigns. Veit, the project director for the police department, inflated Driving Under the Influence (DUI) arrests. He reported that 152 DUI arrests were made during 2009 through 2012, when in fact only 30 arrests were made. This inflation resulted in the department receiving approximately $183,984 in federal reimbursement for overtime compensation. This compensation was used to pay numerous police officers including Veit. Because of his false statements, Veit personally received about $31,915 in overtime payments.