Former Savannah ATF Task Force Officer Pleads Guilty to Stealing Government Money

Savannah, Ga. – Former ATF Task Force Officer Daryle McCormick pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming that he worked approximately 800 hours of overtime resulting in more than $19,500 in additional wages.

“McCormick’s lies about the overtime he worked cost the taxpayers almost $20,000,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn.  “In committing this crime, McCormick violated both the law and the public’s trust.”

“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that federally deputized task force officers will be held to the same standards as other federal law enforcement officers,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Bourbon of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General’s Miami Field Office.

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court: From approximately November 25, 1996, to May 7, 2015, Daryle McCormick served as a police officer with Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department headquartered in Savannah, Georgia.  From that position, McCormick became a federally‑deputized Task Force Officer with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”).  McCormick served as an ATF Task Force Officer from approximately September 6, 2005, to June 17, 2014.

As an ATF Task Force Officer, McCormick was eligible to receive overtime pay for working more than eight hours per day. To be paid, McCormick was required to submit an overtime pay request to the ATF, listing the dates worked, the number of hours worked, and the general subject matter of the work. When submitting requests to be paid for overtime hours purportedly worked, McCormick made the following certification: “I certify that the above time was duly earned. I understand that my misstatement concerning the aforementioned time may be cause for dismissal.” Ultimately, when approved, payments for McCormick’s fraudulently claimed overtime came from the U.S. Department of Justice.  

From October 2010 to September 2013, McCormick engaged in a scheme to unlawfully commit overtime fraud by repeatedly submitting overtime payment requests to the ATF for hours that he never worked.  For example, (1) McCormick claimed to work overtime on days when he had worked a full day with the ATF and had also worked up to an additional four hours at a second job for a local church; (2) McCormick claimed to have worked overtime conducting surveillance or undercover operations, even though no ATF operations occurred on those dates; and (3) McCormick claimed to have worked overtime conducting surveillance or undercover operations; however, McCormick never drafted reports summarizing the alleged ATF operations.

From approximately October 18, 2010, to September 28, 2013, McCormick falsely claimed to have worked almost 800 hours in overtime when in fact, he had not worked those overtime hours.  Based on those false overtime requests, the Department of Justice paid McCormick more than $19,500 for overtime hours that McCormick never worked.

On August 31, 2015, Daryle McCormick, 47, of Pooler, Georgia, was charged via criminal information with theft of government money. He pleaded guilty to that charge.  McCormick was terminated from the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department in May, 2015.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.

Special Assistant U.S Attorney Jeffrey W. Davis is prosecuting the case.

For further information please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office at USAGAN.PressEmails@usdoj.gov or (404) 581-6016.  The Internet address for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga.