BRIDGEPORT - A former supervisor in the police department’s Detective Bureau, accused of stealing thousands of dollars in overtime, has been fired — the fourth city cop shown the door this year.

“I have terminated his employment,” Police Chief Armando Perez said Friday of Stephen Shuck. “There is no way to excuse what he did.”

Shuck, 64, a 34-year veteran and lieutenant, was charged in mid-February with first-degree larceny. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

His lawyer, John R. Gulash, declined comment Friday, as did Police Sgt. Charles Paris, the police union president.

Perez said it will be up to the court in the criminal case to determine whether Shuck will get his pension.

“(Shuck) has a well-established pattern, over a period of more than eight months, of working only a small portion of the time in which he is being paid for, often working just minutes a day,” according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Shuck earned $128,972, including $23,737 in overtime, in 2017. While police concentrated their investigation on an eight-month period, department sources have said they believe Shuck was collecting not only his regular pay but overtime for working when he was actually home.

Perez ordered an investigation of Shuck on Jan. 22, based on accusations by staff in the detective bureau, where Shuck served as a supervisor.

Photo: Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo

The chief authorized the use of a GPS tracking device on Shuck’s car, through which police said investigators were immediately able to corroborate the accusations. That day, Shuck’s take-home police car was spotted sitting in his driveway from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. when he was supposed to be at work, the affidavit states.

The investigation found 11 subsequent incidents in which Shuck was home when he was supposed to be at work.

Perez’s disciplinary action comes as his friend, Mayor Joe Ganim, launches the nationwide search required before the mayor makes Perez or another candidate Bridgeport’s permanent top cop with a five-year contract.

Ganim promoted Perez from captain to acting chief in March 2016. And while many people believe Perez is likable and trying hard, his critics have said they are looking for a better, more visionary manager.

“I want something drastically different,” City Councilman Kyle Langan recently said, when he and his colleagues met with the consultant hired to help mount the national search for a permanent chief. “I’m not happy with leadership as it currently sits.”

Meanwhile Perez’s message has been that the department is moving forward with demanded reforms such as uniform cameras, that he has been successful controlling overtime, and that, when necessary, he is a tough disciplinarian.

Shuck is the fourth officer Perez has fired this year.

He terminated officer Omar Jimenez, 34, a 16-year member of the force, who was fired after his arrest in 2016 for allegedly assaulting a man at a Fairfield motel and then driving drunk.

Perez said he also let two newer officers who were still in their probationary period go.

The Shuck case came up earlier this week when Perez met with the City Council’s Budget Committee, which has been scrutinizing police overtime.

“How do you prevent an officer from being at home 12 hours and claiming 12 hours overtime?” asked Councilman Marcus Brown.

Perez’s executive aid, Capt. Mark Straubel, answered that the department has internal controls.