

A Los Angeles Unified School District police officer who claimed he was shot by an assailant near a San Fernando Valley high school was expected to be arraigned Wednesday on multiple felony charges.

[Updated at 9:41 a.m.: The arraignment was postponed until April 6 to give the officer time to hire an attorney, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County District Attorney's office said.]

The charges against Officer Jeffrey Stenroos include perjury, filing a false insurance claim, preparing false evidence and filing a false police report in connection with the alleged Jan. 19 hoax. Stenroos, who also faces a misdemeanor of falsely reporting an emergency, is expected to plead not guilty.

He remains free on $20,000 bail and faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison if convicted on all counts.

The eight-year LAUSD police veteran was arrested in January in connection with the tale that brought Woodland Hills and surrounding communities to a standstill; nine schools were locked down, leaving 9,000 students shut inside their classrooms for hours.

Los Angeles Police Department officials have said they still are not entirely sure what really happened that day.

According to the LAPD, Stenroos told authorities he had been shot in his bulletproof vest just outside the El Camino Real High School campus by a white man in his 40s wearing jeans and a bomber jacket.