AURORA | A former Aurora Police officer previously accused of bigamy is now wanted for embezzling more than $75,000 from local police charities.
Investigators from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office last week filed court documents outlining probable cause to arrest former Aurora Police Officer Roland Albert, 38.
As first reported by Denver’s CBS4, Albert is accused of stealing $71,147 from a charity that benefits the families of Aurora officers who are injured or otherwise may need financial support, and another $7,753 from a separate charity that raises travel funds for local officers to attend funerals of slain cops across the country.
Albert had served as the treasurer of both organizations, the Aurora Police Orphan Fund and the The Brotherhood For The Fallen Aurora, since December 2015 and March 2016, respectively, according to court documents.
Albert was stripped of his duties as treasurer of both organizations in August 2018.
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 coffers for the local Brotherhood For The Fallen chapter.
Police looked at two of the three accounts linked to the Brotherhood For The Fallen and found nothing suspicious. Local cops suspected Albert of skimming funds from the organization by checking a third account later in the summer.
Around that time, Albert was accused of marrying another woman while still married to his wife.
Investigators confirmed Albert had married a woman in Las Vegas, while still being married to his wife in Colorado, in summer 2018.
Local media reported on the bigamy accusations last September.
Albert has never been arrested in Colorado, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation reports obtained Monday afternoon.
In August, police noticed “the (Aurora Police Orphan Fund) money market account and checking account did have an unusual reduction of funds and suggested a closer look at the accounts,” according to court documents.
Investigators used bank documents to link Albert to missing funds from both charities.
Officials determined Albert made more than 40 withdrawals between $300 and $5,000 from the Orphan Fund accounts from late 2017 to summer 2018.
About 95 percent of all Aurora cops donate a portion of their paychecks to the Orphan Fund, according to court documents.
Albert also made 10 withdrawals from Brotherhood For The Fallen accounts ranging from $149.16 to $2,000 between May 2017 and August 2018.
There are 188 Aurora cops who contribute to the Brotherhood For The Fallen Aurora, which uses membership dues and donations to regularly send a pair of Aurora officers to funerals of cops who “have died feloniously in the line of duty in the United States,” according to court documents.
Albert has since resigned from the department, a spokesman for Aurora police confirmed.
Albert has been charged with one count of felony theft between $20,000 and $100,000, and another count of felony theft between $5,000 and $20,000, according to court records.
A warrant for Albert’s arrest was issued last week, according to Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The warrant was still active — meaning Albert had not been apprehended — as of Monday morning.