9 Boston police officers charged with $200k overtime fraud scheme

BOSTON — One by one, current and former officers accused of overtime fraud and abuse at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse, walked out of federal court Wednesday afternoon.

Some covered their face. Most said nothing at all.

“I’m not allowed to speak.” retired Officer Ronald Nelson said. “Just leave me alone please.”

Nine current and former officers assigned to BPD’s Evidence Control Unit are accused of leaving overtime shifts two or more hours early and submitting slips saying they worked the entire shift, according to a statement by US Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office.

The fraud lasted between 2016 and 2019 and cost taxpayers more than $200,000, investigators said.

The charges relate to two overtime shifts: one for “reducing the inventory of the evidence warehouse,” called a “purge” shift and another for collecting prescription drugs from drop boxes at police districts around the city and taking them to an incinerator in Saugus, or “kiosk” shifts, according to the statement.

“The purge shift was supposed to be performed from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. on weekdays. On days which the defendants claimed to have worked until 8:00 p.m., the warehouse was closed, locked and alarmed well before 8:00 p.m., and often by 6:00 p.m. or before,” the statement said.

The kiosk shift was one Saturday a month from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., according to the indictment, but officers “frequently completed the work and left the shift early, often before 10:00 a.m.” and submitted slips claiming they worked the full shift.

Prosecutors allege between May 2016 and February 2019 the officers collectively embezzled over $200,000 in overtime pay. One of the officers, a lieutenant, is accused of collecting $43,000 in overtime federal officials said he did not work.

Current and former officers arrested and charged include:

· Lieutenant Timothy Torigian, 54, of Walpole

· Sergeant Gerard O’Brien (retired), 62, of Braintree

· Sergeant Robert Twitchell (retired), 58, of Norton

· Officer Henry Doherty (retired), 61, of Dorchester

· Officer Diana Lopez (retired), 58, of Milton

· Officer James Carnes (retired), 57, of Canton

· Officer Michael Murphy, 60, of Hyde Park

· Officer Ronald Nelson (retired), 60, of Jamaica Plain

· Officer Kendra Conway, 49, of Boston.

Each was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.

“I am outraged and, quite frankly, outright disgusted at the utter breach of trust by these nine individuals at the Boston Police Department,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh told Boston 25 News. “I commend Commissioner Gross and our federal partners for bringing these actions to light.”

In a statement, Gross called the allegations “very troubling” adding that they do not “reflect the attitudes of the hard-working employees of the Boston Police Department.

“I hold my officers to the highest standards and expect them to obey all the laws that they have taken an oath to uphold,” the statement continued, “News of these indictments send a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated or ignored and can damage the trust my officers have worked so hard to build with the communities we serve.”

Current officers that were charged have been suspended without pay, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said.

9 Boston police officers charged with $200k overtime fraud scheme

Lelling said in a statement that he was a strong supporter of police but that “all must be treated equally under the law, regardless of wealth, power or station. These officers are charged with stealing taxpayer money, year after year, through fraud. Beyond the theft of funds, this kind of official misconduct also erodes trust in public institutions, at a time when that trust is most needed.”

Civil rights attorney Howard Friedman has been going after police misconduct in Boston for forty years. He believes this latest scandal hurts those resisting police reform.

“It shows there’s a need for greater control, supervision and accountability for police officers, and they should not be able to get away with getting paid for not working,” Friedman said.

When he heard about the allegations, he said he immediately thought of the Mass State Police overtime scandal and the stain it left on the department.

That scandal, first uncovered in 2018, eventually implicated 46 troopers and brought down a colonel.

“One of the number one responsibilities of a police officer is to tell the truth. Everyday about everything,” Friedman said.

“Certainly an officer who has lied about the hours they worked can’t be an officer to testify in court,” he said.

Read the indictment:

“Public servants are rightfully held to a higher standard. Those of us in law enforcement, however, must be beyond reproach because what we do impacts matters of life, death, and freedom for the general public. In these uncertain times we as a nation find ourselves in, with so much tension and mistrust between law enforcement and the communities we are sworn to protect and serve, today’s indictments are a blow to the credibility of our noble profession. We in law enforcement cannot adequately perform our duties if the community does not trust us or believes that we lack integrity. That does nothing to keep our communities safe; to solve our crimes; and to foster, cultivate and build mutual trust and respect between the police and the people they serve.

I am deeply dismayed by the allegations outlined in federal court this afternoon. If these allegations are true, these men and women have dishonored the badge. They stole taxpayer dollars, multiple times over a period of years. This behavior certainly calls into question their credibility. Whatever testimony they may have given in any Suffolk County prosecution during that time is now suspect.

Accordingly, the names of these nine officers will be added to the Law Enforcement Automatic Discovery (LEAD) database in my Office. The names in the LEAD database - and the reason(s) they are included in the database - are checked in each criminal case. If an officer involved in a criminal matter we are pursuing is in the database, that specific information is then shared with defense counsel.

My office will also be notifying CPCS and MACDL about these nine individuals so those entities can begin reviewing cases to see what role, if any, these officers may have played in matters they have defended. For each case they bring to our attention, we will thoroughly review whatever potential pleading is presented to us. I intend to right any wrongs that have been created because of potential misconduct.”

—  Statement from District Attorney Rachael Rollins

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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