Pocono News Section

Bloomsburg University Cop Faces Charges

Bloomsburg University Cop Faces Charges - Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 4:15PM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 @ 04:15pm EST

BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTY -- A Bloomsburg University police officer is on the other side of the law. Sgt. Joseph Clauser is accused of changing another officer's time card to reflect overtime that wasn't worked, to help himself claim unearned overtime pay.

Bloomsburg town police are investigating the case and charged Clauser with one felony count forgery and lesser charges of tampering with records. They say Clauser filled out an overtime card without permission for another officer in order to put more overtime down for himself. But he was trying to get paid for time he wasn't working.

"Due to the nature of the charges, Sgt. Clauser has been temporarily reassigned until the case is adjudicated," said Rosalee Rush, director of communications at Bloomsburg University.

Bloomsburg University's human resources department called in Sgt Clauser as well as the director of law enforcement, Bob Klinger, for a pre-disciplinary conference. Bloomsburg town police say Clauser admitted to the charges in that meeting. So, they filed a search warrant to obtain notes from the conference.

But the search warrant sheds more light on the Bloomsburg University police department. It shows Klinger, the the head of university police, allegedly ignored the issue with Sgt. Clauser. So, the town police had to get involved.

Sources close to the investigation tell Eyewitness News more problems exist within the university police department. They tell us at least two dozen officers have come and gone in the past few years. We asked Rush if the university was looking into that issue. She responded, "I cannot talk about that at this time."

Sgt. Clauser had no comment. He's due back in court later this month. As for his boss, we were told Klinger would get to work at 3pm Thursday. But when we stopped by, we were told he wouldn't be coming in at all.