View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2013/03/29/286504.htm
A former New Orleans police officer accused last fall of falsifying a police report to cover up an alleged hit-and-run accident in his personal car has pleaded to a lesser charge.
The Times-Picayune reports 39-year-old Roger Jones Jr. has admitted he was guilty of criminal mischief.
Jones received a suspended, 60-day jail sentence, and he must pay a fine and court costs totaling $235. Criminal mischief carries a maximum fine of $500 and up to six months in jail.
According to investigators, Jones on Sept. 27 crashed a 2000 Ford into a car parked at the French Quarter intersection of Dauphine and Toulouse streets and fled. He then reported his vehicle was stolen from the corner of North Rampart and Toulouse streets, and he claimed he later found it “severely damaged” at Iberville and Marais streets.
An officer who took Jones’ report noticed inconsistencies in his story and contacted NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau. Jones subsequently confessed to being responsible for a hit-and-run and then filing a false report, police have said.
Jones – a 15-year veteran who used to handle quality of life issues in NOPD’s 8th District, encompassing the French Quarter and surrounding areas – resigned and was booked with hit-and-run and filing false public records.
The hit-and-run case against Jones remains pending in Traffic Court, and it is tentatively scheduled to go to trial May 2.