State police payroll chief charged

Stole $23G from agency, internal probe claims

The former payroll director of the state police is being charged with alleged theft of department funds while on the job, following an investigation conducted by Massachusetts State Police.

Denise Ezekiel will be arraigned Monday at Framingham District Court on a count of larceny over $250 in connection with allegedly misappropriating more than $23,000 in travel and reimbursement funds, said Middlesex District Attorney spokeswoman Meghan Kelly.

State police placed Ezekiel on unpaid, indefinite leave in November when a number of payroll “irregularities” were discovered. Around the same time, an internal investigation started, Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said.

“We noticed irregularities in some payroll data and conducted a further investigation,” Procopio added.

“It was more or less immediately that she was placed on leave.”

Procopio said the alleged theft was committed through Ezekiel’s role as a payroll supervisor for the state police. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office announced the charges against Ezekiel yesterday.

The alleged theft comes amid a series of controversies that have resulted in two federal lawsuits and an investigation into possible overtime abuse in the department.

A scathing internal review released in March revealed that more than 20 current and former troopers may have been paid for overtime shifts that were never worked in 2016. Some of those troopers have retired, and others are on administrative leave.

Under a set of reforms unveiled by Gov. Charlie Baker and state police Col. Kerry Gilpin early this month, it was announced the former state police division assigned to the Mass Pike, Troop E, would be disbanded.

Attorney General Maura Healey’s office is investigating the overtime allegations to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. There is also an ongoing internal affairs investigation.

The department is also dealing with fallout from the Troopergate scandal, in which two state troopers have filed federal lawsuits alleging that revisions were ordered to a police report to remove embarrassing remarks from the arrest report of Alli Bibaud, 30, the daughter of Dudley District Court Judge Timothy Bibaud.

‘It was more or less immediately that she was placed on leave.’ — DAVID PROCOPIO state police spokesman

STAFF PHOTO BY MATT STONE ANOTHER SCANDAL: The former payroll director of the Massachusetts State Police is charged with larceny — the latest in a string of recent controversies plaguing the department, whose Framingham headquarters is shown above.