A former South Tucson police officer was stripped of his state peace officerβs certification Wednesday, following his conviction on two felonies he committed on the job, officials said.
Frank S. Moreno, a 23-year veteran of law enforcement, pleaded guilty in January 2016 to mail theft and counterfeiting a money order, according to U.S. District Court records.
On Wednesday, the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board voted to approve the mandatory revocation of Morenoβs certification, said Sandy Sierra, a board spokeswoman.
In October, Moreno was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $17,000 fine and $8,950 in restitution to the U.S. Postal Service for the incidents that took place in December 2014, court records show.
During Morenoβs sentencing, he told the court that while he was employed as a K-9 handler with South Tucson police, he also worked with the U.S. Marshalβs Service, aiding the Postal Service in βidentifying and interdictingβ packages containing possible drug proceeds sent to locations in and around Southern Arizona, according to the records.
Moreno said that between March 2014 and January 2015, the βtotal value of all the financial instrumentsβ he took in post office-issued money orders totaled $26,050, the records show.
The charges he pleaded guilty to related to a Dec. 27, 2014, incident when Moreno took a $950 money order from the post office and changed the name so that it was payable to himself. A week later, he cashed the money order.
