New York

NYPD Officer Indicted for Allegedly Lying About Salary to Lower Child Support Payments

Prosecutors say he defrauded his child out of a total of $15,332.14

What to Know

  • A veteran NYPD officer has been charged in a 20-count indictment with lying about his salary to reduce his child support payments
  • Prosecutors say he defrauded his child out of a total of $15,332.14
  • He faces seven years in prison if convicted of the top count against him

An NYPD officer has been indicted on charges of perjury and other crimes for allegedly lying about his salary during family court proceedings in 2013 to lower child support payments, defrauding his own child out of more than $15,000, the Brooklyn district attorney's office says. 

Officer Michael Martinez, a 40-year-old 11-year veteran of the NYPD, was released without bail after his arraignment Tuesday on a 20-count indictment. He is currently assigned on modified duty to the housing bureau in Manhattan, prosecutors say, and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of the top count against him. 

Martinez allegedly filed multiple false payroll statements between July 2013 and November 2013 to indicate he earned less money than he actually did. When asked about an apparent change in income at a July hearing that year, Martinez allegedly lied under oath by claiming he was working days instead of nights. The investigation found that wasn't true -- and that he was not only working nights, but receiving additional pay for it. 

Martinez was liable for the child support until his child turned 21 in February 2017, and the judge found that the total loss to the child during the years of the agreement was $15,332.14, prosecutors said. 

The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau started investigating Martinez after unrelated allegations surfaced in July 2017, and unearthed the alleged child support fraud during the course of its investigation. 

“Perjury and fraud are always wrong, but this case is particularly disturbing because these offenses were allegedly committed by a police officer to deprive his child of needed financial support," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. "I will not tolerate such willful and deliberate deceit of our courts, especially from those who have taken an oath to serve the public.” 

Martinez is due back in court in September. Attorney information for him wasn't immediately available.

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