Ex-Mass. State Police union boss sentenced to 2.5 years
Charges include taking kickbacks
The former leader of the Massachusetts State Police union was sentenced Wednesday to 2.5 years in prison on a litany of charges for running the bargaining unit like a racketeering enterprise and taking kickbacks from a union lobbyist.
Dana Pullman, 61, of Worcester, former president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $40,000 and $15,000 in unpaid taxes. His codefendant, Anne M. Lynch, 72, founder and former owner of the lobbying firm Lynch Associates Inc., was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution and $23,000 in back taxes.
US District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock rejected arguments by defense lawyers who said Pullman and Lynch are both in poor health and urged him to sentence them to home confinement or probation. However, Woodlock said they may remain free while appealing their convictions.
The judge said there is a culture in Massachusetts and other states of engaging in corruption of various kinds, with the assumption there will be no consequences.
“Not here,” Woodlock said. “Here there is going to be a form of general deterrence provided by this sentence that is imposed.”
When offered an opportunity to speak before his sentence was announced, Pullman stood and spoke so softly that the judge asked him to repeat what he said. “I have nothing to say, your honor,” Pullman said.
Lynch, chuckled nervously and told the judge, “I’m a woman, I have a lot to say.”
Lynch told the judge that she is “not a dishonest person” and “would never knowingly commit a crime.”
“Have I learned my lesson?” said Lynch, nodding that she has. “I’m never leaving my house again. It’s taken everything from me.”
Defense lawyers argued in heavily redacted court filings that Pullman and Lynch are both in poor health and urged the judge not to send them to prison. Pullman’s lawyers recommended a year of home confinement for him, while Lynch’s lawyers sought probation and community service for her.
In November, a jury convicted Pullman and Lynch of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, as well as honest services wire fraud, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and filing false tax returns.
Pullman was found guilty of taking kickbacks totaling $41,250 from Lynch, a union lobbyist, and diverting thousands of dollars from the union for personal expenses, including flowers, gifts, a Miami Beach vacation, and meals at upscale restaurants with a girlfriend.
Many of the bribes were disguised as consulting fees paid to Pullman’s wife and commissions paid to him, according to evidence presented at trial.
Jurors found that Pullman and Lynch conspired to commit racketeering between 2012 and 2018 — the years Pullman served as president of the union.
Pullman joined the State Police in 1987, became union treasurer in 2008, and president four years later. He retired in November 2018, weeks after resigning as president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts amid the probe by the FBI, IRS, and US attorney’s office into alleged financial wrongdoing.
The indictment laid out four different schemes in which Pullman used his role to steer business or money to Lynch, in addition to the $7,000 monthly retainer fee her company was paid by the union. In exchange, she paid him kickbacks, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 and sometimes disguised as a “consulting fee” to Pullman’s wife or a commission paid to Pullman.
Jurors found that Pullman received a $20,000 kickback from Lynch in 2014 that was related to a $22 million settlement by the state to pay troopers for working on scheduled days off. As part of the settlement, the state paid $350,000 to the union for expenses related to the case. Pullman told the union treasurer to issue a $250,000 check to Lynch’s firm for its work on the settlement, even though the union had already paid the firm $100,000, according to evidence presented at trial
Pullman also used his SPAM debit card, linked to the union’s bank account, to purchase $9,300 in flowers and gifts for family and friends, including some $4,400 that was spent on his girlfriend. He also used the union card to pay more than $8,000 for personal meals, unrelated to union business, with his girlfriend and relatives.
Lynch’s attorney, Scott R. Lopez, argued that Lynch was hired to do a job by the union, which she did, and was “not a criminal” or partners with Pullman.
“At the end of the day, this woman has lost the most important thing to her: her good name, her reputation,” Lopez said. “That’s destroyed.”