A 21-year veteran of the Oakland Police Department has been criminally charged with grand theft after an internal audit uncovered irregularities in his timesheet that investigators say amounted to roughly $38,000 in fraud. The employee, identified in a charging document as Sergeant Kevin Arias, has been placed on administrative leave while the case moves through the Alameda County court system.
According to The Oaklandside, OPD says it found the discrepancies itself, during a routine internal audit rather than through any outside complaint. Once the irregularities surfaced, the department opened both an internal affairs investigation and a criminal investigation, then referred the findings to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, which filed the grand theft charge against Arias. OPD has declined to identify the employee publicly, though the charging document names him, and the department did not immediately make Arias available to respond to the allegations, nor did it immediately answer questions about exactly when the audit and subsequent investigations took place.
A Veteran Officer's Pay Under Scrutiny
Arias joined OPD in 2005 and, according to the same reporting, earned $168,000 in salary in 2025, on top of $94,000 in overtime and another $59,000 in other pay that year. OPD's criminal investigation found that the alleged grand theft and public official fraud totaled approximately $38,000, per the department's statement. He was placed on modified assignment following the audit and remains on administrative leave.
Grand theft under California Penal Code Section 487 covers the taking of property valued over $950 and is what's known as a wobbler offense, meaning prosecutors can pursue it as either a misdemeanor or a felony, with a felony conviction carrying up to three years in state prison, according to DCD Law.
Overtime Under the Microscope Departmentwide
The case lands amid mounting scrutiny of OPD's overtime spending more broadly. A January investigation by the Oaklandside found that one Oakland police officer had accumulated $490,000 in overtime pay in a single year, while the department lacked complete records detailing much of the work performed. Interim Police Chief James Beere told the City Council in March that OPD was $14.6 million over its mid-year overtime budget, on pace for a full-year deficit of $16.9 million, according to the Oakland Police Overtime Report presented to the city's Finance and Management Committee.
Much of that overtime demand traces back to staffing. OPD's active-duty sworn officer count had dropped to 509 by early 2026, well short of the 700-officer level mandated by voters under Oakland's Measure NN, per the same city report. Chronic understaffing has long forced departments to lean on voluntary and mandatory overtime, and OPD's own history shows that oversight has struggled to keep pace: a September 2023 follow-up audit from the Office of the Oakland City Auditor found the department had implemented just 11 of 21 overtime oversight recommendations first issued in a 2019 performance report, with four of the remaining fixes reportedly stalled amid labor union negotiations.
Oakland's overtime tracking troubles aren't confined to policing. A May 2025 probe by the City Auditor identified more than $1.6 million in unauthorized overtime payments across the city's transportation and public works departments dating back to 2018, which officials attributed to flawed payroll software formulas that exceeded federal standards, as KQED reported.
Department Points to New Tracking Tools
OPD says it is now working with the city to roll out improved technology aimed at tightening timesheet tracking, which the department has said should reduce the risk of future misconduct. In its statement, OPD framed the case as evidence that its internal audit process is working, while also reiterating what it described as its commitment to transparency and accountability.
The timing is notable: Oakland is preparing to exit federal oversight after more than two decades under a court settlement stemming from a 2003 police misconduct case, with that oversight expected to end in late September. The fraud allegation against Arias also follows a broader national pattern this year of police timesheet fraud cases coming to light, including August felony charges against six Washington D.C. police employees accused of falsifying $440,000 in overtime records, a case Hoodline covered as the DC police overtime fraud scheme.
No further details on Arias's court schedule or plea have been made public. The Oaklandside noted that OPD did not immediately respond to questions about the precise timeline of the audit and the investigations that followed.
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