Ex-Dallas Police Officer Pleads Guilty to Falsifying Traffic Citations

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Texas
16 October 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A former Dallas Police Officer pleaded guilty today to falsifying traffic citations in order to collect overtime pay, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.

Following an investigation by the Dallas Police Department, Mathew Alan Rushing, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of false statements before Magistrate Judge David Horan Tuesday morning.

According to his plea papers, Mr. Rushing submitted at least 38 fraudulent “Officer’s Daily Grant Activity Reports,” which included citations for fictitious persons and events, over a nine month period from 2018 to 2019.

After Mr. Rushing concluded a traffic stop, he admitted, he sometimes altered the violator’s true identity by changing their name or date of birth, causing arrest warrants to be issued for drivers who didn’t exist. Other times, he admitted, he citied drivers for nonexistent violations after they departed the scene of the incident.

Mr. Rushing admitted he submitted these report with the intention of collecting overtime pay funded by federal grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through a program administered by the Texas Department of Transportation and the Dallas Police Department.

Mr. Rushing now faces up to five years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for March 2020.

The Dallas Police Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation Dallas Field Office, and Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Jarvis and Andrew Wirmani are prosecuting the case.

Contact:
Erin Dooley, Public Affairs Officer
214-659-8707
erin.dooley@usdoj.gov