Mass. Environmental Police Colonel fired over misconduct allegations

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Environmental Police have terminated Colonel James McGinn over misconduct allegations.

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Colonel McGinn, along with now retired Major William Bilotta, exercised poor judgment and violated public trust.

An internal investigation from the EEA found Col. McGinn used his influence to void two citations for minors operating unregistered off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and also installed cameras at OLE's Westborough headquarters without proper authorization.

On August 22, 2015, an officer observed two minors unlawfully operating OHVs and issued citations to their parents, each including a civil fine of $250 for failing to register the OHVs and a warning for failure to supervise their operation by minors.

Investigators spoke to both the officer who issued the citations as well as his supervising sergeant, who confirmed two underage riders had been driving the OHVs in unauthorized areas without proper vehicle registration or certification of safety training.

It was after the sergeant brought the citations to Major Bilotta's attention that he was then instructed by Major Bilotta to void the citations.

On Oct. 5, 2018, the Boston Globe identified one of the parents cited in the incident as a friend and former neighbor of Col. McGinn.

Both officers also said they remembered chasing two other OHV riders about a day to one week before the incident in question and later learned the minors involved were Col. McGinn's children who lived in the area.

In the course of the investigation, Major Bilotta confirmed he ordered the officer to void the citations, but denied any knowledge of a connection between the incident and Col. McGinn's children or former neighbor.

Investigators did not find Major Bilotta's statement to be credible given the sergeant's statement that he had made Major Bilotta aware of the conversations regarding the colonel's children as well as prior statements made by Col. McGinn himself where he discussed the citations with Major Bilotta and learned about them.

The EEA's investigation also points out Major Bilotta defended his actions by saying the OLE did not issue citations to minors, however, the citations were issued to parents and were intended to address the parents' failure to register the OHVs and supervise their operation by their minor children.

Furthermore, investigators found further corroboration of the officer's account from the statement of the supervising lieutenant who had kept the original copy of the voided citations and pointed out that, in his more than 26 years with the OLE, he had never seen a citation be voided for any reason.

Investigators then concluded Major Bilotta knew about the citations and the connections they had to Col. McGinn's family and friends, and that the Colonel also knew of those citations and that Major Bilotta subsequently ordered they be voided.

Investigators said they found enough evidence that supported that Col. McGinn influenced the disposition of the citations in a way that benefited him firsthand as well as his personal acquaintances.

Aside from the findings related to the citations, investigators also found Col. McGinn conducted surveillance of the officers who reported to the OLE's Westborough headquarters without proper authorization.

Cameras were installed in front of two windows in the office with three cameras facing out of the building and one camera facing toward the office door.

OLE's Finance Director told investigators Col. McGinn had previously procured one set of cameras, four in total, without specifying the reason for purchase or where he was going to use them. The Finance Director later found out the cameras had been installed in the Westborough office without any discussion with or notice to EEA leadership, or to the employees reporting to that location.

While the OLE was developing plans to install additional equipment to provide general security at the office, the Colonel acted unilaterally outside any approved security plan.

On Aug. 31, 2018, the Lieutenant Colonel reported he met with Col. McGinn who, in turn, admitted to having the cameras installed in order to conduct surveillance because he believed employees were improperly reporting work hours.

However, despite Col. McGinn's motivations, he still took these actions outside established EEA procedures, which would have required him to alert EEA leadership, including the EEA General Counsel, Chief of Staff, Chief Operating Officer and the HR and Labor Relations Directors and could have required a formal investigation.

The Lieutenant Colonel, at the EEA's direction, later visited the OLE's Westborough headquarters and ordered that all cameras and surveillance equipment installed by Col. McGinn be removed.

During this investigation, the OLE Finance Director further disclosed he received an invoice from a private investigator firm for services provided to Col. McGinn.

The EEA later learned the services included observing and videotaping an OLE officer on 16 separate days in Aug. and Sept. 2018 in order to make sure he was honestly reporting his on-duty hours. These services were also procured without following EEA procedures for handling operational and HR matters.

The EEA concluded the Colonel conducted "covert" surveillance activities without notifying EEA leadership or getting the required approvals.

Additionally, large expenditures such as the total charges in the invoice, which exceeded $5,000, are typically approved by both OLE's and EEA's Finance Directors and that all orders from statewide contracts need to be approved by the Commonwealth's procurement system (COMMBUYS).

Investigators said they found Col. McGinn ordered the used of public funds to engage in surveillance activity without proper notice or discussion with EEA officials, saying "The Colonel exercised poor judgment and acted irresponsibly in engaging in covert surveillance activity without proper justification or notice to employees, thereby undermining employee morale and the integrity of his own leadership of the environmental police force."

Additional findings also state Col. McGinn made a mistake when promoting three sergeants to the position of lieutenant in the Spring of 2018. Only two positions had been made available, but records show the Colonel erroneously promoted all three sergeants, forcing the EEA to create a third position for the candidate who had been passed over.

In conclusion, based on the findings by the investigation along with additional findings by EEA management, the EEA "does not believe it is possible for Col. McGinn to remain in his role and execute his duties as the Director of OLE, a position that provides oversight of all Environmental Police functions and requires the utmost level of integrity and fairness."

The EEA has turned over the matter regarding the OHV citations to the State Ethics Committee.

Col. McGinn was terminated by the EEA on Oct. 19, 2018 and Major Bilotta retired from the Mass. Environmental Police in Feb. 2018.

“The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will begin a review of internal controls and policies in an effort to restore accountability and public trust in the Massachusetts Environmental Police," said Peter Lorenz with the EEA. "The unauthorized contract for surveillance has been terminated, and a formal investigation into alleged timesheet irregularities has been opened."

In response to the investigation, Governor Charlie Baker issued the following statement:

“I support Secretary Beaton's careful review of the matter and believe that Colonel McGinn's actions were inappropriate for any state employee, especially the head of the Environmental Police. Protecting Massachusetts' natural resources is an important job and our Administration will now begin the process of installing new leadership at the agency to implement stronger internal controls across the Environmental Police force.”

Cox Media Group