Santa Barbara Cop Charged With Worker’s Comp Fraud

A Santa Barbara police officer was charged with four felonies related to worker’s compensation insurance fraud, allegedly committed while employed at the department, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office said Monday. Jacob Finerty, 28, was hired by the SBPD in September 2011 and a worker’s compensation fraud investigation began in 2014, interim Police Chief John Crombach said. “This came to our attention I think in 2014 and we initiated an investigation, and it then began to take a criminal turn when there appeared there was some fraud involved here,” he said.