20 Albuquerque firefighters accused of fraud

Posted at: 02/16/2012 2:26 PM | Updated at: 02/16/2012 6:18 PM
By: Chris Ramirez, 4 on Your Side

KOB Four On Your Side uncovered new details about a former Albuquerque Fire Fighter indicted on federal drug charges.

He’s suspected of being involved in an elaborate time card abuse scheme that defrauded the city.

KOB verified with three high credible sources that Steve Chavez was among 20 firefighters who had questionable and possibly fraudulent information on his timesheet in 2011.

Chavez and the others were suspected of trading their shifts in a way that gave them a full 40-hour shift many weeks.

An internal City of Albuquerque investigation, launched by Fire Chief James Breen, found some firefighters abusing the shift trade system.

The system allows firefighters to trade one shift for another. It’s a legal practice that is granted through a labor union contract.

"There was a handful of these folks, around 20, where their balances were significant, which would equate to a few hundred shifts that possibly they didn't work," said Deputy Chief Tige Watson.

Twenty firefighters were identified as having thousands of unaccounted hours, suggesting they gave their hours away, but never worked those hours back.

"There was a concern no doubt,” Watson said. “There was a concern has to how could this have occurred, how could there be this type of imbalance and who knew and when they knew."

The group of 20 claimed they worked full 40-hour shifts and received the government benefits that go along with full time work, but their balance sheets showed they were missing thousands of hours.

KOB Four On Your Side confirmed through three highly credible sources that Chavez was one of those 20.

AFD fired Chavez federal agents arrested him for his alleged involvement in a Mexican drug cartel ring, smuggling drugs and laundering money.

City of Albuquerque officials cannot confirm that Chavez is part of the group of 20 in fear of litigation.

However, Watson did tell KOB that the software that keeps track of shifts and trades has been upgraded and the department continues to work with the labor union to come up with better practices to prevent this type of fraud and abuse.

20 Albuquerque firefighters accused of fraud | KOB.com