Police officer pleads guilty to stealing money from criminals

A police officer pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $20,000 in Crime Stoppers reward money.

Accordingly WREGArica Hutchison, one of two police officers assigned to work the Crime Stoppers hotline to help weed out tips for investigators, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft from a program that received federal funding receives. She was recently sentenced to six months in prison and two years of supervised release.

The disgraced cop was accused of manipulating the system to alter data so someone named “KB” could receive $18,500 in rewards from Crime Stoppers.

Records from August 2023 to February 2024 show Hutchinson “used her position in law enforcement” to enter “fraudulent information” into the Crime Stoppers database. She then had a person named “KB” accept the rewards for tips. The reward money describes two incidents from late 2023 in which tips were received for two separate crimes and for which a Crime Stoppers reward money was approved.

Before this reward was to be paid out, Hutchison updated the information in the database.

On January 10, agents from the FBI Memphis field office conducted surveillance at the location where KB was supposed to receive the payment. KB was seen going to the location to collect the reward for the two tips given.

State Police Department records show Hutchison was placed on administrative leave in February. She resigned in April but an internal investigation was still ongoing. The law enforcement officer was charged in federal court on June 3. She pleaded guilty the same day to conspiracy to steal a program that received federal funding.

In addition to her prison sentence, Hutchison must also pay $22,000 in restitution while serving a number of additional prison terms. This includes mental health assessment and counseling, taking a financial literacy course, and substance abuse and alcohol treatment.

Hutchison was with the Memphis Police Department for 17 years before resigning.

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