BOSTON (WPRI/AP) — A former Massachusetts State Police lieutenant and sergeant were arrested Friday on charges that they stole tens of thousands of dollars in an overtime pay fraud scheme and destroyed documents in an attempt to cover it up, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling.
Former police Lt. Daniel Griffin and Sgt. William Robertson are charged in federal court with conspiracy, federal programs embezzlement and wire fraud.
Griffin also faces additional charges related to a separate scheme to defraud the private school his two children attended, prosecutors said.
“Everyone must be treated equally under the law, and we will keep doing these cases until this kind of abuse stops – abuse that is deeply unfair to the vast majority of law enforcement officers who are doing their job the right way, already under difficult circumstances,” Lelling said.
Federal authorities have already charged several other former troopers from state police’s now-defunct Troop E for taking overtime pay for shifts they didn’t work and left early between 2015-2018.
When the overtime misconduct came to light between 2017 and 2018, the troopers allegedly tried to hide their involvement by shredding and burning records and forms.
