High-profile ex-Hub cop charged with OT fraud
A former Boston police officer who was also the head of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and was honored at the White House has been charged in connection with an overtime fraud scheme.
Thomas Nee, 64, of Quincy, is the 15th Boston police officer to be charged in the federal investigation of OT fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse.
Nee has agreed to plead guilty to collecting about $16,642 in overtime he did not work, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on Monday.
The former union president agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.
When Nee was the union leader, then-President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden honored him at the White House in 2009.
The longtime head of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association was later replaced in 2014 by Patrick Rose, who’s now behind bars on charges that he raped multiple children over the course of decades.
Out of the 15 Boston police officers charged in the OT fraud scheme, nine of the officers have pleaded guilty.
Nee submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips for hours that he did not work at the evidence warehouse from at least January 2015 through February 2019, according to the charging documents.
The “purge” overtime shift was a 4 to 8 p.m. weekday shift when officers were supposed to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. Nee claimed to have worked from 4 to 8 p.m., but he and other members of the unit routinely left at 6 p.m. or earlier, the feds said.
“Kiosk” overtime involved driving to each police district in Boston one Saturday a month to collect old prescription drugs to be burned. The feds said Nee submitted overtime slips claiming to have worked 8.5 hours when he and other members of the unit only worked 3 to 4 hours.
Nee’s son Joseph was convicted in 2008 of conspiracy to commit murder for his role in plotting a Columbine-style rampage at Marshfield High School. He helped plan a 2004 high school massacre to coincide with the anniversary of Columbine High School shootings and the birth date of Adolf Hitler.
Joseph ended up revealing the plot to police, which resulted in four students getting arrested. Investigators later found a hit list of students, school officials and police officers. They also found hand-drawn maps of the high school, computer files on bomb building, and a shopping list of weapons and ammunition.
Joseph served about two years in jail. In 2013, the 26year-old was found dead in a Quincy residence.