CMPD specialist accused of embezzlement on the job, police officials say

For the second time this week, someone who worked for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has been charged with wrongdoing on the job.

In the latest incident, a specialist assigned to the Passenger Vehicle for Hire Unit is accused of embezzlement, CMPD said in a Sept. 24 news release. The unit regulates vehicles for hire, including taxicabs, limousines, shuttle vans and special needs transportation vehicles.

“A routine supervisory review revealed inconsistencies in payment receipt documentation submitted by Wilson Rivera Espinosa,” CMPD said in the release.

“Further assessment prompted CMPD’s Financial Crimes Unit to launch a criminal investigation. … Rivera Espinosa was immediately reassigned to non-public-facing duties pending the outcome. On Thursday, Sept. 24, detectives arrested Rivera Espinosa and charged him with one count of embezzlement.”

Rivera Espinosa has been placed on administrative leave without pay, and “formal termination proceedings have been initiated,” CMPD said. Rivera Espinosa was hired by the department in March 2025.

“Operations of the PVH program were never impacted by this incident,” police officials said. “At no point was any customer denied or prevented from receiving PVH services as a result of this incident.”

On Sept. 21, the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation reported a former DNA analyst for CMPD is accused of intentionally filing a misleading report in 2024.

Kelly Elizabeth Shea, 40, switched “a positive control sample, a quality control step, during a stage of DNA laboratory analysis in an ongoing criminal investigation for the purpose of interfering with the operation of the law enforcement agency,” an arrest warrant reports.

She is charged with misdemeanor filing a false report to police, an arrest warrant says.

This story was originally published September 25, 2026 at 8:46 AM with the headline “CMPD specialist accused of embezzlement on the job, police officials say.”