HARRISBURG – The Attorney General’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police have filed criminal charges against a police chief from Lebanon County who is accused of submitting false overtime claims and traffic citation information to state-funded traffic safety programs.
Attorney General Linda Kelly identified the defendant as Michael Todd Burdge Sr., 43, of 1542 Sholly Ave., Lebanon. During the time of the incidents, Burdge served as chief of the Annville Township Police Department.
According to the criminal complaint, Burdge generated fictitious information about overtime hours purportedly worked by officers in the Annville Township Police Department to support various state-funded traffic safety programs. Burdge is also accused of generating false information about the number of traffic citations that were supposedly written by various officers during those safety campaigns.
During the course of the investigation, a sealed search warrant was executed on the offices of the Annville Township Police Department in order to secure payroll and overtime information, timesheets and work logs, along with submission forms for various police grant programs.
According to the criminal charges, a forensic audit of those records identified more than 280 discrepancies on various claims forms that were allegedly submitted by Burdge to the North Central Highway Safety Network, seeking reimbursement for the Annville Township Police Department’s alleged participation in various aggressive driving and seatbelt enforcement programs.
Based on the information developed during the course of the investigation, along with the results of the audit that was conducted, it was determined that the false claims resulted in overpayments to Annville Township totaling $38,958.
Burdge is charged with two counts of tampering with public records or information, both second-degree misdemeanors, which are each punishable by up to two years imprisonment and fines of up to $5,000.
The criminal charges were filed before Cleona Magisterial District Judge Michael D. Smith, who will schedule a preliminary hearing at a future date.
The case will be prosecuted in Lebanon County by Senior Deputy Attorney General George R. Zaiser of the Attorney General’s Criminal Law Division.