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Former Colorado mass shooting detective fabricated overtime

Posted at 3:22 PM, Nov 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-25 17:27:09-05

AURORA (AP) — The FBI says a detective who led the investigation of a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater billed about $40,000 of overtime he did not work while on a federal task force.

KCNC-TV reported former Aurora Police Department Det. Craig Appel will not be criminally charged for the inflated overtime claims.

Appel was the lead detective on the July 2012 shooting case in which James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded numerous others inside a theater.

Officials say Appel transitioned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2014. Three years later, the agency removed him for fabricating 1,161 overtime hours and billing more than $81,000.

Appel’s government-issued phone contained a tracking device that revealed discrepancies.

Appel decline to comment beyond a written statement saying he has retired.

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Information from: KCNC-TV, http://www.cbsdenver.com