Ex-School Cop Convicted in Shooting Hoax

Hearing Set for Ex-School Cop Convicted in Shooting Hoax 
KTLA News -  April 18, 2012

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) --  A post-sentencing hearing is scheduled Wednesday for the former LAPD campus police officer who staged his own shooting. Jeffrey Stenroos, 31, has already paid the L.A. City Council $309,000 in restitution for the bizarre hoax. The money will be deposited into the city's General Fund. In exchange for the restitution, the judge agreed to let Stenroos post bail pending the outcome of an appeal. Last January, Stenroos radioed that he had been shot in front of El Camino High School in Woodland Hills. The report set in motion a series of events that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars and personnel to secure the area. Over 300 officers, along with police dogs and helicopters, were deployed to search for the shooter. They conducted a 10-hour manhunt, which resulted in the shutdown a large part of the western San Fernando Valley. Some 9,000 students at nine schools were placed on lockdown for hours. In the following days, authorities released a sketch of the alleged gunman, and the reward for information grew to $100,000. Within days, investigators began to doubt Stenroos' account of the events, and eventually announced there was no outstanding suspect in the case. Stenroos reportedly confessed that his story was a hoax, and he made the whole thing up because he accidentally fired his gun. Stenroos pleaded not guilty to a six-count grand jury indictment that included insurance fraud, planting evidence and preparing a false shooting report. He was convicted on five counts in a non-jury trial in September, after he waived his right to a jury trial. In December, Stenroos was sentenced to five years in state prison, but three years of that term were suspended. With prison realignment and time served, Stenroos will likely spend less than a year behind bars. He was also ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.