A Bronx cop is facing up to 15 years in prison after he allegedly swindled the NYPD out of $50,000 in salary while calling out sick — for a whole year.
Officer Euvindsonz Dacilas, 44, was arrested in May after the Internal Affairs Bureau found he ignored numerous orders to return from sick leave.
The stay-at-home cop kept getting paychecks thanks to an administrative mixup, and police said that amounted to a crime.
“The officer violated department sick procedure and as a result there was an internal affairs investigation, which resulted in him being arrested and suspended,” said Deputy Inspector Kim Royster.
Shortly after his transfer from a housing unit in Manhattan to one in the Bronx, Dacilas took several approved leaves for a medical issue, sources said.
But when the leaves were up, he ignored orders to return to duty, starting in June 2010.
Notices were sent to his old command, informing bosses he must return or stop getting paid. A supervisor failed to pass along the order to his new command, so the checks kept coming, a police source said.
“He took it upon himself not to go back,” the source said. “A supervisor should have notified his command, but it’s no excuse.”
Dacilas was finally busted when he visited a surgeon in the department’s medical division, who flagged the situation for higher-ups.
He began serving a 30-day suspension on Nov. 22., and could face further departmental discipline in addition to the criminal prosecution, sources said.
His lawyer did not return calls for comment.
The supervisor who failed to pass along the return-to-work order could also be disciplined, sources said.
Dacilas is charged with three counts of grand larceny, one count of petty larceny and official misconduct. He is due back in court in February.
With Rocco Parascandola
kdeutsch@nydailynews.com
