Four Boston police officers facing new charges in overtime fraud scheme

BOSTON — Four Boston police officers are facing additional charges as part of an overtime fraud scheme that spanned four years and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands, according to U.S. District of Massachusetts Attorney Rachel Rollins.

Lieutenant Timothy Torigian, 57, of Walpole; Sergeant Robert Twitchell (retired), 61, of Norton; Officer Henry Doherty (retired), 64, of Dorchester; and Officer Kendra Conway, 52, of Boston are facing one additional count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their role in the alleged scheme that cost taxpayers $200,000 from 2016-2019.

The four officers, along with five others, were originally indicted in September 2020 with one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.

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 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.

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

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

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

©2023 Cox Media Group