Dallas Police Department employee fired after being accused of lying about college degree
Gina Fowler-Strickland (Photo: Dallas County Jail)
DALLAS - A Dallas Police Department employee was fired after being accused of lying about her college degree to get a promotion.
Gina Fowler-Strickland, a police report representative, was fired on Thursday after a disciplinary hearing with the police chief.
Strickland was fired for "engaging in adverse conduct when she was arrested for the offense of fraudulent, substandard or fictitious degree," the department said in a statement.
No details were given regarding the "adverse conduct."
According to court records obtained by FOX 4, Strickland was charged with fraud/ fictitious degree in June 2023 after she was accused of lying about a postsecondary degree in order to get a promotion back in June 2022.
Stickland did not show up to a court hearing, and a warrant was issued in September for her arrest. That warrant was later recalled for unspecified reasons.
Court records show the DA’s office ultimately dismissed the charge in November after Strickland completed a pre-trial intervention program.
A mugshot has not been released.
Lying about a postsecondary degree in order to get a job or a promotion is a class B misdemeanor in Texas, which is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.