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Report: LA Fire Capt. Paid $50K In Vacation, OT Allegedly Falsified Time Card

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Los Angeles city fire captain is on leave after for allegedly falsifying his timecard after auditors found he was paid $50,000 in vacation time last year, according to a report Wednesday.

Capt. Eric Vasquez was paid nearly $77,000 above his base salary of $108,000 — the equivalent of nearly 23 weeks of pay — in vacation, overtime and bonus pay, according to payroll information obtained by the Daily News under the California Public Records Act.

The alleged falsification by Vasquez, a 17-year LAFD veteran whose duties involved supervising time sheet data entry — including his own — were discovered last month by the City Controller's Office when the department submitted payroll data electronically for the first time, the Daily News reported.

Until October, the LAFD was the only city agency still handling time sheets manually, which the Controller's Office had flagged as a risk in an audit in February.

Vasquez was placed on administrative leave and his computer and other documentation were confiscated, the Daily News reported.

City officials could not immediately say if he was continuing to receive his salary while on leave.

Records show that Vasquez charged the city for 919 hours of vacation in 2010, or the equivalent of nearly 23 weeks, for pay of $50,501, the Daily News reported.

Efforts by the newspaper to contact Vasquez for comment were unsuccessful.

(©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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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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