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Officer Behind Costly School Shooting Hoax Sentenced Today, His Lawyer Says "It ain't over yet"
Stenroos
Former Los Angeles Unified School District police officer Jeffrey Stenroos was sentenced today to two years in jail and five years probation for perpetrating a shooting hoax that shut down a Woodland Hills high school and neighborhood during an unnecessary manhunt.Stenroos, 31, was convicted in September on four felony counts and one misdemeanor in conjunction with the high-profile incident. Among the charges Stenroos faced were instances of insurance and workers comp fraud, as well as planting evidence and filing a false police report.
Although Stenroos' specific sentence was five years in jail, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Richard Kirschner suspended three years of the term, according to City News Service. If Stenroos meets all the terms of his probation, he will not have to serve those three years. Stenroos was also ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.
Stenroos claimed he'd been shot outside El Camino Real High School in January, and came up with a phony description of the incident and the suspect. Large swaths of the neighborhood were cordoned off to look for the suspect, while El Camino Real High School and other local schools, were placed on lockdown.
The "hoax" wound up costing the city and the LAUSD over $400,000, and the Los Angeles Police Department a great deal of time.
Outside the court today, an attorney for Stenroos said he and his client were "shocked and disappointed. "It ain't over yet," added the lawyer.
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