Former Aurora cop who stole $65K from police charities sentenced to 18 months in jail with work release

AURORA | A former Aurora police officer who admitted to stealing tens of thousands of dollars from local charities walked into Arapahoe County courtroom 207 Monday as a free citizen, but was ultimately escorted out as a jail inmate.

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Ben Leutwyler on Monday sentenced disgraced Aurora cop Roland Albert to 18 months of work release at the Arapahoe County jail and five years of probation for embezzling more than $65,000 from charities intended to support the families of police officers killed or injured on the job.

Leutwyler suspended a four-year stint in state prison pending Roland’s compliance with other stipulations of the sentence. 

Albert, 39, pleaded guilty in October to embezzling cash from a pair of charities, the Aurora Police Orphan Fund and The Brotherhood For The Fallen Aurora, throughout 2017 and 2018. 

Investigators initially believed Albert stole $71,147 from the orphan fund, which benefits the families of Aurora officers who are injured or otherwise may need financial support, though later determined he made off with $57,613, according to court documents. Albert stole another $7,753 from The Brotherhood For The Fallen, which raises travel funds for local officers to attend funerals of slain cops across the country. 

More than 700 Aurora police personnel contribute a portion of their paychecks to both charities. 

Albert, who previously served as treasurer for both groups, took money from the organizations’ coffers 47 times beginning in May 2017, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Steve Fauvner. 

“His own needs, his own wants were his priority,” Fauvner said. “Instead of asking for help, he helped himself.” 

Albert resigned from the department after police officials accused him of stealing.

In summer 2018, Aurora cops received an internal tip that Albert’s wife had financially cut him off, and that police should look at the accounts tied to the local Brotherhood For The Fallen chapter. Investigators later confirmed Albert had married a woman in Las Vegas, while still being married to his wife in Colorado, in summer 2018. 

A warrant was issued for Roland’s arrest on a felony theft charge earlier this year, according to court documents. He was detained in Florida on March 23, according to court records and a CBS4 report from March. 

Albert, who appeared in court wearing a checkered dress shirt, navy suit vest and a tie, posted a $5,000 cash or surety bond on April 22.

At his sentencing hearing at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, Albert apologized for his actions and asked the court for forgiveness. 

“I will think about my heinous actions for the rest of my life,” he said. “ … There is no justification for my actions, and I wish I could take those days back.” 

Albert’s defense attorney, Neil Silver, asked Leutwyler to be consistent with his sentence, arguing most first-time financial fraudsters rarely receive prison terms. 

Silver also argued that Albert had undiagnosed PTSD spurred by his involvement with the investigation of the Aurora theater shooting in 2012. Silver said Albert was one of the first people to enter the theater where a gunman killed 12 people and injured more than 70 others. 

District Attorney George Brauchler, who prosecuted the theater shooting case, derided that argument, claiming there were hundreds of investigators and victims linked to the shooting who didn’t go on to commit crime.

“It is frustrating to me to hear someone take something that is already a despicable situation and to make it, in my opinion, seemingly worse by saying, ‘Oh, by the way, my 47 separate acts of fraud and theft? They’re in part to blame on a crime five years before this,’” Brauchler said. “ … That theater was filled with officers … who were actually in the theater who have yet to engage in criminal conduct. My God, we had 70 people — attempt murder victims — in that theater who have not gone to a life of crime who dealt with much more than he did in this case.”

As part of his sentence, Albert will have to pay more than $65,000 in restitution to the charities he defrauded. While the Brotherhood For The Fallen recovered about $4,100 from garnished wages after the embezzlement was uncovered, the Orphan fund has yet to recoup any of the stolen funds, officials said. 

Aurora Police Sgt. Brandon Samuels, president of the Aurora Police Orphan Fund, said Albert’s actions tarnished the organization and propagated distrust toward local police.

“Cops doing stuff like this is why cops get killed and why people don’t trust police,” Samuels said. 

Leutwyler, too, said crimes like Albert’s erode national confidence in law enforcement. 

“Mr. Albert, the effects of your crime are felt not just across our community, but across our country,” Leutwyler said from the bench. “ … You were given much, but then you stole much in terms of money and in terms of trust and respect.

Aurora Officer Tim Jeffery, who co-founded the local chapter of the  Brotherhood For the Fallen nearly five years ago, said both of the charities Albert swindled were placed on a national watch list that highlights irresponsible charity organizations. He said both groups lost members and funding after theft charges were filed. 

“We’re never going to get over this,” Jeffrey said.

Though the prosecution asked for a six-year sentence in state prison, Brauchler said he was satisfied with Leutwyler’s ruling. 

“This outcome was about the best we could hope for,” he said. “I don’t want the public to come away from this feeling like this guy got a better outcome than someone who wasn’t an officer. That is simply not true. This is a first-time economic crime offender who is going to go into custody today and remain in that position for 18 months.”

Albert, who is currently living in his car and working as a landscaper, will have to report to the Arapahoe County Jail any time he is not working or seeking work, according to statements made by Brauchler and Silver.

Albert’s son, Caleb Albert, teared up at the conclusion of the hearing.

“It’s embarrassing, more so because the guy I saw there today wasn’t the man that raised me,” Caleb said outside of the courtroom.

He said he thought his father should have received a harsher sentence for his crimes. 

 “As far as the sentencing, I don’t think he deserved probation. It’s hard to say even though he’s my dad, but … that’s pretty disgusting.” 

Hinting at recent reports that an Aurora police officer has remained on the force despite being found passed out and smelling of alcohol in his cruiser in March, Brauchler commended Aurora police for self-reporting the circumstances surrounding Roland’s crimes.

“This is a case that comes to us from Aurora Police Department in an effort to police their own,” he said. “And we have other things that are going on in the jurisdiction right now where people have called into question whether Aurora police is capable or willing to do that in some other circumstances. I can’t speak to those right at the moment, but I can tell you that this is one where Aurora PD did the right thing.”

Roland Albert was remanded to custody of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office at the conclusion of the hearing.