Crime

Veteran BSO deputy charged with defrauding sheriff’s office out of $15,000, cops say

A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy with more than 13 years on the force has been charged with defrauding the department out of more than $15,000, deputies said.

On Thursday, the sheriff’s office announced that former Detective Luis Silverberg was charged after an 18-month investigation by the FBI and BSO. The charges relate to several instances of official misconduct and theft, the BSO said.

Silberberg, 35, became a BSO deputy in 2006 but was suspended with pay in February; after his arrest, he was suspended without pay. He most recently was a detective in BSO’s robbery unit.

BSO said Thursday that in 2019, the FBI asked the sheriff’s office to assist them in investigating Silberberg in an unrelated case. The BSO investigation found that over four months at the end of 2019, he was overcompensated $15,541 over 368 hours and 16 overtime hours, the sheriff’s office said.

The BSO Public Corruption Unit said Thursday that Silberberg falsified overtime forms seven times and lied 57 times about working a full shift when he didn’t. According to the BSO, Silberberg would say he worked an entire day but he never left his home, or worked a part-time shift instead.

Silberberg has been charged with grand theft, official misconduct and obtaining property under $20,000 by fraud.

Devoun Cetoute
Miami Herald
Miami Herald Cops and Breaking News Reporter Devoun Cetoute covers a plethora of Florida topics, from breaking news to crime patterns. He was on the breaking news team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2022. He’s a graduate of the University of Florida, born and raised in Miami-Dade. Theme parks, movies and cars are on his mind in and out of the office.
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