A former California deputy sheriff has been convicted of fraud involving a phony insurance claim and an alleged romantic relationship with a jail inmate.
April Myres, 55, was convicted of mail fraud and wire fraud, according to a report by local news affiliate KTVU. In March 2016, Myres reported to police that her service firearm, a radio, and luxury goods had been stolen. After making the report, she refused to cooperate with the investigation. However, two months later she filed an insurance claim for $67,000, according to KTVU.
An FBI investigation concluded that the claim was fraudulent, and also found that Myres had conducted an affair with inmate Antoine Fowler while working at the San Francisco County Jail. Fowler’s cellmate testified that Myres told Fowler she would obtain a gun for him when he got out of jail, KTVU reported.
After his release, Fowler lived at Myres house until the morning of the alleged burglary. When the FBI arrested him nearly a year later, he was in possession of Fowler’s firearm, KTVU reported. Myres had allegedly told her insurance company she did not know who committed the burglary and that no boyfriends were involved in the crime.
“The US Attorney’s Office will vigorously pursue law enforcement officers like Myres who abuse their positions of trust, especially when motivated by the sort of greed and avarice seen in this case,” US Attorney David Anderson said in a statement. “The defendant not only lied repeatedly to profit from a so-called burglary, but allowed her service firearm to remain in the possession of a dangerous criminal for almost a full year.”
Myres is scheduled to be sentenced in October. She faces up to 20 years in prison and five years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
