Troopers tangled in new OT scandal
Two more state troopers are federally charged in yet another overtime scandal — and are accused of destroying evidence of their own wrongdoing after news of the separate Troop E debacle broke, according to the feds.
Former Lt. Daniel Griffin, 57, of Belmont, and former Sgt. William Robertson, 58, of Westboro, were both arrested Friday and charged with running a multi-year scheme to commit overtime fraud between 2015 and 2018.
Both men pleaded not guilty during their Friday afternoon arraignments in U.S. District Court in Boston. Judge Marianne Bowler allowed them to be released on their own recognizance.
Both men also made a pretty penny this year, with buyouts padding their bottom lines. Griffin brought home $224,546, including a $91,798 buyout, and Robertson raked in a total of $238,426, including $52,210 in overtime and a $73,457 kiss goodbye. During those 2015-18 years, Robertson was pulling in as much as $58,250 in a given year, while Griffin one got up to $81,140.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling in a Friday press conference referenced the more than 40 previous troopers charged in separate OT scandals since 2018, saying there’s
“a cultural problem in the state police.”
“We’re going to keep doing these cases until this kind of behavior stops,” Lelling said. “Either internally at the state police they can take proactive steps to ensure their troopers aren’t doing this — or I can do it. Either way, it’s got to stop.”
State Police top cop Col. Christopher Mason, who was not in charge during the years in question, said in a statement, “The conduct as alleged is unacceptable and does not represent the standards and professionalism expected of Massachusetts State Troopers; the Department has already implemented a series of internal controls, training, and supervisory systems designed to prevent such behavior. I wish to thank the original Departmen t investigators for the ir audit of former Troop E personnel, which provided the foundation for the Department and prosecutors to discover and address this conduct.”
Griffin and Robertson and other troopers — the indictment references three other yet-unnamed troopers — in the Traffic Programs section “conspired to embezzle thousands of dollars in federally funded overtime by regularly arriving late to, and leaving early from, overtime shifts funded by grants intended to improve traffic safety,” Lelling’s office said.
Asked whether more people will face arrest, Lelling said, “The investigation is active and ongoing.”
The state police said they know the identities of the three other troopers and internal affairs is probing their cases.
According to the indictment, the troopers conspired to embezzle thousands of dollars by regularly arriving late to, and leaving early from, overtime shifts funded by grants intended to improve traffic safety. During the course of the conspiracy, Griffin made and approved false entries on police forms and other documentation to conceal and perpetuate the fraud, Lelling said.
Around the same time, other troopers, primarily in the now-defunct Troop E, had their own OT scams going; when those came to light in 2017 and 2018 — resulting in trooper after trooper appearing in the Boston federal courthouse — Griffin, Robertson and their co-conspirators took steps to avoid detection by shredding and burning records and forms, Lelling said.
Griffin is also accused of working on his private security business during work hours. Further, the feds say he hid $700,000 in revenue from that side business from them — and from the private school two of his kids went to, as the trooper misstated his income in order to receive more than $175,000 in financial aid.