Former Naval Base San Diego cop admits stealing $293K from govt.

A former police officer on Naval Base San Diego pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego federal court to stealing more than $293,000 in government benefits intended for a former officer colleague who died in 2016.

Ivan Alonso Rodriguez, 47, admitted that he didn’t report his colleague’s death, which occurred in Mexico and which he was obligated to report, having been designated three years earlier as the sole trustee of his colleague’s living trust. Instead, Rodriguez spent almost an entire decade after his colleague’s death collecting retirement and benefit payments the U.S. government was sending to the deceased man.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of receipt, concealment and retention of stolen public money. His court-appointed attorney declined to comment Wednesday.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the plea agreement in the case, Rodriguez and the deceased man, identified in court documents only as R.J.W., worked together as police officers at Naval Base San Diego Security Department until R.J.W. retired.

In 2013, for reasons that were not fully explained in the plea agreement, Rodriguez was designated as the sole trustee of R.J.W.’s living trust. He was also granted power of attorney over R.J.W.’s affairs and added as a joint account holder to R.J.W.’s bank account.

When R.J.W. died in April 2016 in Baja California, Rodriguez failed to report his death to U.S. authorities.

Rodriguez admitted in his plea agreement that from May 2016 through September 2025, he collected more than $204,000 in Social Security payments and nearly $86,000 in benefits from the Federal Employees Retirement System that were meant for R.J.W. He also admitted to collecting $3,200 in COVID-19 stimulus payments meant for R.J.W. in 2020 and 2021.

Rodriguez admitted in his guilty plea that he knew the various payments meant for R.J.W. “were the rightful property of the United States, and therefore stolen public money.”

Officials from Naval Base San Diego did not respond to a message seeking more information about how long Rodriguez was employed as a police officer on the base, or when his employment ended.

Rodriguez faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and as part of his plea has agreed to pay $293,535 in restitution to the federal government. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.