FORMER AVON POLICE CHIEF SENTENCED FOR STEALING FEDERAL FUNDS
ROCHESTER, N.Y.-U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced today that that Joseph Geer, 40, of Caledonia, NY, who was convicted of theft of funds related to a federal program, was sentenced to serve two years’ probation by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas M. Testani, who handled the case, stated that in 2022, the Avon Central School District and the Village of Avon entered into a School Resource Officer Contract, in which the Village of Avon agreed to provide an off-duty member of the Avon Police Department to provide various services to the district. In exchange, the School Resource Officer (SRO) would be paid an hourly wage by the district. Between September 2023, and January 2024, Geer was employed as the Avon Police Chief and an SRO under the contract. During that time, Geer billed the district for hours during which he did not perform duties under the contract. Geer assigned an on-duty subordinate officer to “cover” his obligations, thus depriving the Village of Avon of a patrolling on-duty police officer. Geer knew that by assigning an on-duty officer to cover his duties, the Village of Avon was being charged for a police officer’s wages who was not performing all of his police officer duties.
The value of police services for the Village of Avon that were lost while officers covered Geer’s SRO duties was approximately $6,866.84.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent-in-Charge Mark Grimm, and the New York State Comptroller’s Office, under the direction of Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli released the following statement today on the sentencing of former Avon Police Chief Joseph Geer for stealing federal funds:
“This police chief swore to uphold the law but instead used his position to enrich himself at the expense of his community. He was ordered to pay back what he stole, and he paid full restitution, amounting to over $6,000. My thanks to U.S. Attorney DiGiacomo and the FBI for partnering with my office to hold him accountable.”
