A former officer and a former sergeant with the Boston Police Department were sentenced this week for their involvement in an overtime fraud scheme that amounted to over $250,000 in stolen money, officials said. 

Former officer Joseph Nee, 50, of Taunton, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to pay a $2,000 fine along with $12,636 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s office said in a statement.

William Baxter, a former sergeant, was sentenced Tuesday to three years of supervised release, with seven months of home detention. Baxter, 63, of Hyde Park, was also ordered to pay a fine of $20,000 and restitution of $9,223. 

Nee and Baxter were among the 15 officers charged in connection with committing overtime fraud at BPD”s evidence warehouse between 2016 and 2019. Ten officers were convicted, four were acquitted, and one officer passed away while charges were pending. 

The fraud scheme first came to light in 2020 with the arrest of nine police officers. Nee and Baxter were among the officers charged in 2021 after further investigation.

Both Nee and Baxter pleaded guilty in June 2021 to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, according to Levy’s office. 

Throughout the time of the fraud, multiple police officers reportedly submitted false time slips for two separate overtime shifts in the evidence warehouse. Some high ranking officers in the warehouse were implicated in knowingly approving the false time slips.

For one shift, officers regularly reported working eight and a half hours, though they only worked less than half of that, Levy’s office said. For another shift, typically worked from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., officers usually left several hours early but still submitted time sheets that said they worked the full shift. 

Nee committed the fraud between January 2015 through August 2017, according to prosecutors. He collected about $12,636 in false overtime payments. 

Baxter submitted false time slips from March 2015 through June 2016. He also “knowingly endorsed” fraudulent time slips of his subordinates, according to Levy’s office. 

Between May 2016 and February 2019, the involved police officers collectively embezzled over $250,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in 2021.