Clarence Willoughby, a 24-year veteran, was booked and placed on paid leave pending a disciplinary hearing. Police Chief Francisco Ortiz Jr. said he would “strongly urge” Willoughby be fired.

“Clarence Willoughby’s actions showed he violated the same laws that he was sworn to uphold,” Ortiz said.

Willoughby was charged on four separate warrants, which are sealed under court order, so police released few specifics about the allegations. He faces four felony counts of second-degree larceny, four felony counts of forgery and two misdemeanor counts of making a false statement. He was released on $10,000 bail.

“It does involve the confidential informants fund and documents from the police department,” said Capt. Joann Peterson, the head of internal affairs.

The forgery and false statement counts apparently stem from Willoughby falsifying police records to cover up the alleged thefts.

The stolen money totaled several thousand dollars and involved four cases between 2003 and 2007, Ortiz said.

Willoughby’s attorney responded to the arrest with a press conference.

“He’s the top detective at the New Haven Police Department. These allegations are baseless, and we’re very confident that he will be vindicated,” said attorney Mike Dolan.

“He’s a detective who was above board, did it right every day he was on the job.”

Dolan said he had not yet seen the warrants and still didn’t know the details of the allegations against his client. He called it a “rash decision” on the department’s part to pursue the case.

Willoughby, on Dolan’s advice, did not speak.

Alderman Charles Blango also attended the press conference and stood in the background.

“He’s my friend for 40 years. Just here for support,” he said.

Willoughby has been a detective since 1991.

Ortiz said he had ordered a general review of the confidential informants fund last April in the aftermath of the FBI’s corruption probe that ultimately led to the arrests and guilty pleas of three narcotics detectives.

Willoughby allegedly came under scrutiny earlier this year after inquiries by the state’s attorney’s office into work he did in a 2006 fatal shooting at Monterey Place, a Dixwell apartment complex.

Sources have said Willoughby received $1,500 to pay to an informant for information and, when authorities took a closer look, questions arose about whether he misidentified the alleged informant in police documents and whether he paid the real informant the full amount.

The internal affairs probe then expanded as investigators pored over police records, recently returned by the FBI, of informant payments made by Willoughby to try to determine whether he allegedly skimmed or stole money in other cases leading to the additional charges.

One of the warrants stems from the 2006 investigation into the killing of Robert “Scott” Bennett, 20, the son of a New Haven activist who knew Willoughby for years. It was that case that first put Willoughby under the microscope.

With 24 years on the force, Willoughby is eligible to retire and applied for his pension before surrendering on the warrants. Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said if the Board of Police Commissioners fires him, he would lose lump sum payouts, which can total tens of thousands of dollars, and it could result in a lower pension.

“We’re going to go after the truth. This whole matter, we want it to be heard by the board,” Ortiz said.

Willoughby’s arrest came two days after a Hartford detective was spared prison time after he agreed to resign and repay money he stole from an account used to pay confidential informants.

Alfred Henderson, 38, had previously pleaded no contest to a charge of second-degree forgery. Prosecutors say Henderson took more than $6,500 from the informant account during 1994 and 1995.

Ortiz said Wednesday that the department has instituted additional safeguards for the fund, which has been largely shut down since last year.

Willoughby was the fourth New Haven police officer arrested for corruption in the last year. The head of the narcotics squad and two of his detectives were arrested as part of an unrelated corruption probe into theft and a kickback scheme from bail bondsmen, who paid police tens of thousands of dollars to locate fugitives.

Lt. William White, and Detectives Justen Kasperzyk and Jose Silva have pleaded guilty and are facing federal prison time.