K-9 officer quits, hit with a dishonorable discharge
Spokesman: Trooper hid past involvement in drug dealing
Embattled K-9 trooper Leigha Genduso has quit her high-paying job with the state police and was issued a dishonorable discharge on the way out the door.
The announcement came last night — the latest in a string of scandals plaguing the state police ranks — and did not address her past romantic relationship with a top commander.
“She did not disclose her past involvement in a drug dealing operation to any member of the Mas- sachusetts State Police and ... she made demonstrably false statements regarding her past involvement in criminal activities on the application,” agency spokesman David Procopio said in a statement explaining the discharge.
She leaves the force as an internal affairs probe “sustained multiple charges” against her for “narcotics dealing and her own drug use,” Procopio added.
Genduso, 36, was a K-9 trooper as recently as last fall, when state police highlighted her and her canine companion Kojak’s efforts to catch a suspect in Peabody.
But she never mentioned her role in a marijuana-trafficking operation, including processing and selling pot. She was granted immunity to testify in the 2007 case, but the transcripts were readily available to state police. She traded her testimony for freedom, records state.
She was hired as a state police dispatcher in 2008 and a trooper in 2014. She had been on unpaid leave while under investigation.
Procopio said the state police are firming up their hiring protocols.
“Under the leadership of Col. Kerry Gilpin, the Massachusetts State Police recently created a new checklist for the background check process, and broadened the questionnaire for recruit candidates to include questions about involvement in any criminal investigation, even if the candidate was not charged with a crime,” Procopio said.
“The department,” he added, “additionally has held initial discussions with federal law enforcement partners regarding searching their investigative records for any reference to MSP recruit candidates.”
The news comes as 46 troopers, some who have retired, face charges or have admitted guilt to padding their overtime pay. That has resulted in the shuttering of Troop E on the Mass Pike and the other reforms to keep an eye on whether troopers are actually working the hours they are putting in for.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, Attorney General Maura Healey’s office and the state police are all still probing the OT scandal.
‘She did not disclose her past involvement in a drug dealing operation to any member of the Massachusetts State Police . ... ’ — DAVID PROCOPIO, state police spokesman