A Dallas Police Department employee has been fired after being accused of lying about his college degree to get a promotion.
Gina Fowler Strickland, the police report officer, was fired Thursday after a disciplinary hearing for the police chief, Fox 4 reported.
Police officials said Strickland was fired for “engaging in unlawful conduct during arrest on charges of fraud, substandard, or fictitious degrees.”
According to Fox 4, Strickland was indicted in court in June 2023 on charges of fraud and claiming a fictitious degree after allegedly lying about his higher education degree to get a promotion a year earlier. This was revealed in the records.
She failed to appear at a court hearing and a warrant was issued for her arrest in September. However, the warrant was later canceled for reasons unknown.
The district attorney's office ultimately dismissed the charges in November after Strickland completed a pretrial intervention program, according to court records.
In Texas, falsifying a higher education degree to obtain a job or promotion is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
