New Times artist conception/Photos by Jason Lawrence (Miami police car) via Flickr and Miami Police Department (timesheet)
Audio By Carbonatix
A Miami Police Department (MPD) officer has been fired after allegedly logging nearly 100 hours of fake overtime last summer.
Last June, an MPD sergeant filed a complaint with the department’s internal affairs unit alleging that officer Erick Hernandez logged 10 hours of off-duty work at a Home Depot within the City of Miami — while he was actually more than a dozen miles away at his home in Broward County. Internal affairs launched a three-month investigation into Hernandez and found this was just one of many instances in which the officer allegedly logged bogus overtime hours for shifts he never worked, ultimately collecting more than $5,000 for 99.14 hours of unworked time.
Following the probe, internal affairs investigators recommended that the city terminate Hernandez; they noted a “concerning pattern of behavior of similar nature” in his past. (New Times has requested Hernandez’s employment file).
On April 14, city manager James Reyes sent Hernandez a letter informing him of his termination. The letter (which is attached at the bottom of this story) lists a handful of department rules that the officer allegedly violated, including “making a false statement, report, communication, or entry,” and “truthfulness,” as well as three Florida laws he allegedly broke involving theft, providing false information, and “official misconduct.”
“You are hereby notified that you are terminated as a Police Officer effective April 14, 2026 for having failed to fulfill your obligation as an employee of the Department of Police, City of Miami, Florida…,” the letter reads.
It’s unclear if Hernandez is facing any criminal charges. New Times was unable to reach him for comment. Miami POA FOP Lodge 20, the local police union that represents Miami police officers, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
While Hernandez signed up to work and submitted pay invoices for 48 off-duty jobs between April 23, 2025 and July 24, 2025, a review of his patrol car’s GPS found that he either arrived late, left early, or didn’t show up at all for 39 of these jobs, according to the internal affairs report. The review also found that for 18 of the 48 jobs, Hernandez was still at his home in Broward County when he clocked into work “as if he had arrived at the job site.”
“For eight (8) of those jobs, Officer Hernandez clocked in and out of [work] from home, never leaving his home in Broward County,” the report reads. “For one (1) of the jobs, Officer Hernandez clocked in one time…within the City of Miami limits, drove around the City of Miami for approximately two (2) hours, never stopping at the job site, before returning to his home in Broward County.”
According to the report, Hernandez submitted invoices and was paid as if he’d performed 332 hours of extra duty work during those three months at a rate of $50.50 an hour, but GPS records and timesheets show he failed to work 99 of these hours.
When asked about the instances where he clocked in and out of work despite never leaving home, Hernandez told internal affairs that he was “going through a difficult period in his life where he found it difficult to get out of bed and made some decisions as a result.”
He later “accepted responsibility and apologized for each instance where he failed to amend his time to reflect the hours he had actually worked,” according to the report.
“Officer Hernandez stated that he had gone through a difficult period in his life both ‘mentally and physically’ and made mistakes as a result,” the report reads. “Officer Hernandez stated that he obtained help and that he was currently feeling better.”
