(KTXL) — A former officer with the Sacramento Police Department pled no contest to two counts of submitting a false police report Monday, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said.
Alexa Palubicki was arrested in 2021 for providing a false report on a 2020 traffic stop in which said officers approached a driver in a car to tell them they were parked illegally.
Video above: Previous coverage of Palubicki’s arrest from 2021
A search of the car, which the driver did not consent to, turned up a gun and the driver in the traffic stop was charged with a felony on suspicion of carrying a concealed firearm.
The charges were later dropped after questions arose about finding probable cause to approach the car in the first place.
According to the district attorney’s office, Palubicki’s sentencing will take place June 5, 2024.
The district attorney’s office said the judge will reduce the felony counts to misdemeanors if she does not commit another criminal offense before the sentencing. The reduced sentencing would mean Palubicki would have a maximum of two years in county jail.
The Sacramento District Attorney’s Office said it objected to the plea bargain, arguing that Palubaki should receive felony convictions and that they should not be reduced to misdemeanors at sentencing.
“Any time a police officer falsifies a police report, it is an affront to justice and taken very seriously,” District Attorney Thien Ho said. “As prosecutors, we must proceed only on cases where the evidence is trustworthy and legally obtained. We have the solemn duty to ensure that justice and fairness remain the touchstone of our criminal justice system.”
