A 40-year-old Massachusetts State Police trooper pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing overtime money by skipping specialized patrol shifts and writing or falsifying tickets to make it appear he was working.

Heath McAuliffe of Hopkinton, who was suspended in the overtime investigation, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds in a Boston federal court Friday, according to court records.

He will be sentenced on June 4.

According to a plea agreement on file in court, the U.S. Attorney agrees to recommend a sentence of 6 months to one year in prison and one year of supervised release.

The government will seek $7,860 in restitution. A previous news release about the case against McAuliffe said he was paid $9,825 for overtime shifts he did not work.

McAuliffe is one of several troopers from the former Troop E accused of skipping specialized enforcement patrols – known as AIRE patrols – on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

He skipped working some of those specialized patrols between August 2015 and August 2016, federal records show.

“McAuliffe was paid for overtime shifts that he did not work at all, for which he arrived late, and from which he left early,” authorities said in an earlier news release. “McAuliffe concealed his fraud by submitting fraudulent citations designed to create the appearance that he had worked overtime hours that he had not, and, falsely claimed in MSP paperwork and payroll entries that he had worked the entirety of his overtime shifts.”

The Accident and Injury Reduction Effort patrols were created to reduce aggressive driving and enforce infractions on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Eight troopers have been charged in federal court on embezzlement charges in connection with the overtime investigation.

Three troopers, including Lt. David Wilson, are also facing state charges in the investigation. Wilson is the only trooper to face state and federal charges.

Federal records detail the fraud committed by McAuliffe. On Sept. 15, 2015, the trooper had a day off but worked a four-hour overtime shift providing security for a liquid natural gas tanker. He also worked a four-hour AIRE overtime shift that day.

McAuliffe claimed he wrote eight motor vehicle citations during the shift. Investigators reviewed the citations and discovered no driver histories were requested during the Sept. 15, 2015 overtime shift by the trooper.

Seven of the citations had never been issued, authorities discovered while reviewing state Registry of Motor Vehicle records.

The eighth citation was issued to a driver, but seven hours before McAuliffe’s overtime shift began.

“I do not believe that McAuliffe could have predicted at 12:12 p.m. that he would stop that motorist nearly ten hours later,” FBI Special Agent Karen Lostracco wrote in federal records.

The agent believes McAuliffe falsified information on the citation to make it appear he was working the AIRE shift.

As in many cases against the troopers charged in federal court, investigators also found McAuliffe’s radio in his cruiser was off during the AIRE shift, showing he was not driving his cruiser.

Agents spoke to one person McAuliffe said he ticketed during the AIRE patrol on Sept. 15, 2015. That person said they were never stopped or pulled over by a trooper that day.

The person said they would not have been on the Mass. Pike at that time of day.

Agents said they discovered more instances, on other days, where McAuliffe claimed to issue citations during an AIRE patrols but instead falsified citations to make it appear he was doing the overtime work.

Investigators spoke to other drivers cited by McAuliffe and discovered he falsified records to make it appear he issued the citations during AIRE patrols but, in fact, had issued the citations at other times.