Brian Gerber: Fayetteville police officer arrested for off-duty work fraud

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) – A Fayetteville police officer was arrested for fraud.

Fayetteville police announced the arrest at 11:30 a.m. At 1 p.m., Police Chief Kemberle Braden held a press conference announcing the officer's identity and explaining the charges.

Braden said the officer was charged with 12 counts of fraud and arrested.

Court documents accuse Sergeant Brian Gerber of lying about working as a security guard at another company. Investigators said those efforts fraudulently netted Gerber about $20,000.

In one case, Gerber allegedly showed up for work for only about six minutes and was paid for more than 20 hours.

“The Fayetteville Police Department is willing and able to hold itself accountable when necessary,” Braden said.

According to the documents, Gerber worked as a security guard for the AMC movie theater in the Market Fair Mall on Skibo Road.

Fayetteville police became aware of what was going on when a check discovered discrepancies in Gerber's GPS data.

“To me, the definition of ethics is the expectation or code of conduct that is held to you based on your role, title, position or profession,” Braden said. “There are certain things that the average citizen can probably do and get away with that we cannot allow our police officers to do.”

Gerber had been with the department since 2017 and served in the patrol division.

Braden said Gerber is no longer employed by the Fayetteville Police Department. This is the third officer arrested since Braden took over as police chief in 2023.

This is the third time in the past year that Fayetteville police have arrested one of their own officers. In October, 23-year-old Izreal Gear-Johnson was arrested after Braden said he was accused of being involved in “illegal drug activity.” In November, 31-year-old Tamyra Billings-Giles was arrested and charged with various charges.

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