McGinn cleared in ethics probe
Allegations against ex-Environmental Police Col. James McGinn have been terminated by the State Ethics Commission, according to his lawyer.
McGinn, a former state trooper and driver for Gov. Charlie Baker and onetime head of the Environmental Police, was “exonerated of ticket fixing,” his lawyer Tim Burke said.
“McGinn was trying to do the right thing by uncovering command staff not showing up for work, payroll fraud, and larceny of wages,” Burke added, saying the former boss was a casualty of election-year “politics” by the Baker campaign.
McGinn was fired in October 2018 after an investigation alleged he installed cameras to spy on employees and fixed tickets given to former neighbors in 2015.
He, in turn, accused his bosses of bouncing him for refusing to fix speeding tickets for high-ranking staff and disobeying orders to keep a “lid on things” regarding misconduct during the 2018 gubernatorial election. Baker won that election.
The civil lawsuit he filed in U.S. District Court in Boston was dismissed last October, records show. He was seeking $1.4 million in damages.
McGinn hired an independent investigator and the investigator found a senior member did not appear to work on time, or at all on assigned days, according to the suit.
In an unrelated story, McGinn and another highranking law enforcement official were injured while riding in a state vehicle that was rammed by another vehicle that was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed on Route 3 in Plymouth in 2017.
That driver was a teenager. Both officers were treated and released from a hospital.