BOSTON — Nine current and former Boston police officers are facing charges in connection with overtime fraud totaling more than $200,000 at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse.
Lt. Timothy Torigian, 54, of Walpole; retired Sgt. Gerard O’Brien, 62, of Braintree; retired Sgt. Robert Twitchell, 58, of Norton; retired Officer Henry Doherty, 61, of Dorchester; retired Officer Diana Lopez, 58, of Milton; retired Officer James Carnes, 57, of Canton; Officer Michael Murphy, 60, of Hyde Park; retired Officer Ronald Nelson, 60, of Jamaica Plain; and Officer Kendra Conway, 49, of Boston, were each arrested and charged in an indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, WCVB reported.
They appeared in federal court in Boston Wednesday via videoconference. Each once pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.
Police Commissioner William Gross said the allegations are “very troubling and in no way reflect the attitudes of the hard-working employees of the Boston Police Department.”
“I hold my officers to the highest standards and expect them to obey all the laws that they have taken an oath to uphold. News of these indictments send a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated or ignored and can damage the trust my officers have worked so hard to build with the communities we serve,” he said in a statement.
“These allegations are an affront to the thousands of police officers who do their jobs every day with honesty, integrity, and bravery. I am outraged and, quite frankly, outright disgusted at the utter breach of trust by these nine individuals at the Boston Police Department,” Mayor Marty Walsh said. “I commend Commissioner Gross and our federal partners for bringing these actions to light.”
The defendants were assigned to Boston Police Department’s Evidence Control Unit and routinely departed overtime shifts two or more hours early but submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips claiming to have worked the entirety of each shift, according to details contained in the indictment.
Supervisors, who also left early from shifts, allegedly submitted their own false and fraudulent slips and also knowingly endorsed the fraudulent overtime slips of their subordinates, according to the indictment.
Between May 2016 and February 2019, the nine allegedly collectively embezzled over $200,000 in overtime pay, according to the indictment, WCVB reported.
“I am deeply dismayed by the allegations outlined in federal court this afternoon,” reads a statement from Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins. “If these allegations are true, these men and women have dishonored the badge. They stole taxpayer dollars, multiple times over a period of years. This behavior certainly calls into question their credibility. Whatever testimony they may have given in any Suffolk County prosecution during that time is now suspect.”
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