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School Police Officer Facing Several Felonies In Shooting Hoax

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Criminal charges have been filed against a Los Angeles School Police officer who allegedly lied about being shot by a burglary suspect near El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills.

The incident prompted a neighborhood and school lockdown and police dragnet on Jan. 19. Jeff Stenroos, 30, told authorities he was shot in his bullet-proof vest. He later confessed to accidentally shooting himself.

"The actions of Officer Stenroos put into motion a series of events that wasted valuable Department resources, negatively impacted thousands of school children and their families, and disrupted the lives of a countless number of people who were inconvenienced by the perimeter set up to catch a suspect who never existed. Officer Stenroos deserves no leniency and the charges he now faces are more than appropriate after what he put this city through," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.

Stenroos is scheduled to be arraigned March 23 in Van Nuys Superior Court on one felony count each of filing a false report, perjury by declaration, preparing false documentary evidence and insurance fraud, and one misdemeanor count of false report of an emergency.

Stenroos is free on $20,000 bail. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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