NYPD Detective Fraud Scam: Embattled Officer Michael Bazerman Admits to Stealing $6,000 from Manhattan District Office

By Jared Feldschreiber | Aug 30, 2013 06:25 PM EDT

Michael Bazerman, an NYPD detective, pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $6,000 from the Manhattan District Office, the site where he headed a wiretap and surveillance squad, the New York Post reported on Friday.

An 18-year veteran of the police force, Bazerman forfeitedhis $70,000-a-year pension and medical benefit worth an estimated $3 million all total, the report said.

"The defendant was an NYPD detective. He certainly should have known better," said Bronx Assistant DA Peter Kennedy.

The 40 year old admitted to scamming $5,811.93 through fraudulent invoices at his August 19 court appearance before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Ward, news reports said.

Bazerman had already faced up to seven years in prison "on more than 300 counts of grand larceny, forgery and other charges for submitting bogus expense reports to the DA's office between 2009 and 2011," the newspaper said.

Both the Manhattan DA's office and the NYPD declined to comment.

This week, Bazerman said the expenses were legitimate: "I bought antennas for DA [Cy] Vance's truck, my captain's truck. I bought headphones. I had cables, an equalizer," he said.

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