Ex-Police Officer Gets 8 Months In Jail After Stealing $60K From Youth Scholarship Fund

FULLERTON (CBSLA.com) — A former Southern California police officer has been sentenced to 240 days in jail for stealing more than $60,000 from a law enforcement football organization that raised money for youth scholarships.

Forty-five-year-old Kirk Robert Lotzgesell faced up to three years in prison after pleading guilty in December to a felony count of grand theft.

City News Service reports the ex-La Habra officer took the money from the Orange County Cop Bowl Association.

The organization includes police officers who play football games against other law enforcement agencies and fire departments to raise money for student scholarships.

Lotzgesell, who served as an unpaid treasurer for the association in 2007, was accused of embezzling the money by writing checks to himself and taking cash from the association's bank account using ATMs.

The scheme was uncovered after the IRS contacted the Orange County Cop Bowl Association about its failure to file taxes, prompting an investigation into its accounts.

A source close to the investigation previously said Lotzgesell changed his address and phone number so that police could not find him. In February 2012, investigators posing as buyers in Norwalk tracked his real estate license number and took him into custody.

The former officer made headlines when he was shot in the line of duty in 2005. He served on the force until 2006.

Lotzgesell has also been sentenced to five years of formal probation.

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