UPLAND, Pennsylvania — The man who ran the Upland Borough Police Department is now accused of running an overtime scheme against it. Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse announced on Monday, November 9, that former chief Michael Irey has been charged with 20 criminal counts for allegedly collecting more than $50,000 in overtime and extra-duty pay for shifts he never worked. Irey 'used his position to collect more than $50,000 for overtime he never worked, betraying both the public and the officers who faithfully serve their communities,' Rouse said in announcing the charges, as reported by the Delaware County Daily Times.
Source: Delaware County Daily Times via CancelPeople summary of the DA announcement
The charges, count by count
According to the district attorney's announcement, Irey faces three counts each of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, tampering with evidence and unsworn falsification to authorities; six counts of forgery; and one count each of obstruction of justice and receiving stolen property. The charges allege that he submitted overtime and extra-duty details for compensation for work he did not actually perform, accumulating more than $50,000 in pay. All of the charges are allegations. Irey has not entered a plea, has not answered the charges in court, and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Source: Particle News summary of DA and court records
Grant money paid for the details
Upland is a small borough in Delaware County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, and its police department's overtime details are largely grant-funded — paid through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and other entities. Among the assignments Irey would sign up to work, according to the district attorney's release, was a roving DUI patrol: grant-paid enforcement shifts of exactly the kind meant to keep impaired drivers off the road. Prosecutors allege the chief claimed pay for such details while not working them.
How investigators say they checked the timesheets
The case began inside the department. Eight officers filed complaints that Irey was logging overtime and special-assignment hours he did not work, and those tips were referred to the county special investigations unit on December 5, 2025. Delaware County detectives then matched the department's time sheets against cellphone records, bank statements and automatic license-plate reader data — and, investigators say, found the chief's vehicle at restaurants and bars instead of at his assigned detail posts during hours he was being paid to work.
A department left without its top two officers
Irey and his second-in-command, Lieutenant Michael Curran, became targets of the investigation earlier in 2026 and were placed on administrative leave in March, roughly eight months before Monday's charging announcement. Curran resigned during the investigation, leaving the small borough force without either of its two top officers while the probe proceeded. Reporting on the charges does not say Curran has been charged; the counts announced Monday name Irey.
"Used his position to collect more than $50,000 for overtime he never worked, betraying both the public and the officers who faithfully serve their communities." The district attorney's office praised the officers who reported the alleged scheme and asked the public for any further tips.
Arrested in New Jersey, awaiting extradition
Irey was arrested in New Jersey on local charges and is in custody there awaiting extradition back to Delaware County to answer the Pennsylvania case. No plea has been entered and no trial date has been reported. County officials say the investigation remains active, and additional charges or information could follow.
Why a small-borough case matters beyond Upland
Overtime fraud cases turn on a simple trust: grant-funded detail pay — much of it road-safety money routed through PennDOT — is claimed on paper timesheets that supervisors are expected to verify. Prosecutors allege that in Upland the person at the top of that verification chain was the one submitting the claims. For residents, the case also explains a year of turmoil in a very small department: its chief and lieutenant both gone since March, and now a former chief facing theft and forgery counts built substantially on the complaints of his own officers.
What happens next
The next step is extradition: Irey must be returned from New Jersey to Delaware County, where he will be arraigned on the 20 counts and a preliminary hearing will be scheduled. At that hearing, prosecutors will have to show the evidence behind the timesheet, phone, bank and license-plate records they cite. Irey is entitled to a defence, and nothing in Monday's announcement is a finding of guilt. Awaaz Punjab will follow the case as court dates are set.