FRAMINGHAM MA March 21 2018 — Twenty active state troopers and one retired member of the force are facing possible sanctions for allegedly logging overtime they didn’t work, with the most egregious alleged violators putting in for as many as 100 bogus shifts, officials said Tuesday.

State Police Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, superintendent of the force, said during a news conference that 19 troopers will have “duty status hearings” in the coming days to determine whether they’ll be suspended.

State Police have also reported their findings to Attorney General Maura Healey’s office, Gilpin said.

“For us to fulfill our mission as a police agency, we must have public trust,” Gilpin said.

She said her predecessor, former colonel Richard McKeon, launched an audit of overtime shifts on Troop E, which covers the Mass. Pike, after a discrepancy came to light between overtime hours filed and actual shifts worked.

The audit covered 2016, but State Police are expanding their review of overtime department-wide to cover additional years, Gilpin said.

In addition to the 19 troopers facing duty status hearings, another trooper already suspended for a separate matter and a retired trooper are also being investigated in the overtime case, Gilpin said.

She said she couldn’t put a dollar figure on the amount of disputed overtime paid out.

However, she said the number of questionable overtime shifts per trooper range from one to “as high as 100.”

Gilpin said the audit dealt with overtime payments for traffic enforcement patrols on the Pike, known as Accident and Injury Reduction Effort, or AIRE, patrols.

She said there were “apparent discrepancies between overtime paid and actual patrols worked by several Troop E members.”

The retired trooper who’s a subject of the audit left the force last year, Gilpin said. She did not provide a reason for the retirement or identify the trooper.

Gilpin also did not identify any of the other troopers under scrutiny, including the trooper already suspended for a separate matter. She didn’t elaborate on that matter.

“Depending on the outcome of the [duty status] hearings, these members face a potential change in their duty status, up to and including suspension without pay, while further investigation into the apparent payment discrepancies is conducted,” Gilpin said.

Additionally, she said State Police expect Healey’s office to “review the information and take whatever action they determine to be warranted.”

Healey’s office said only that prosecutors have received the audit and will investigate the findings to determine whether further action is warranted.

Gilpin’s findings were a matter of grave concern Tuesday for Dana Pullman, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, the troopers’ union.

“The State Police Association of Massachusetts (SPAM) does not condone any of the alleged actions of SPAM union members or commissioned officers that may have violated the public’s trust,” Pullman said in a statement. “We will be providing our members with the best legal representation to appropriately address any allegations brought against SPAM union members. We hope that working with the Massachusetts Department of State Police Administration will ensure that everyone involved is held accountable.”

Pullman also said repeated scandals have taken a toll on his members.

“The Department has been in turmoil over the last several months,” Pullman said. “We believe the customs and culture that was allowed to flourish under the previous State Police leadership has compromised the public’s perception and calls into question the integrity of the hard-working men and women of the Massachusetts State Police. Colonel Gilpin has been given the unenviable task of dealing with a myriad of untenable issues. SPAM will continue to seek resolution of these issues and work with her to earn back the public’s respect and trust.”

State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said Internal Affairs initially began investigating one trooper for multiple issues including overtime discrepancies, and then WCVB-TV made inquiries about additional troopers. Some of the troopers now facing duty status hearings were initially flagged by WCVB, while numerous others were pegged by investigators, Procopio said.

Gilpin said State Police ended the AIRE patrols last year amid the investigation and took measures to strengthen “accountability and oversight of remaining overtime shifts.”

She stressed that the force is conducting a department-wide probe of overtime shifts as well.

“To date, we have no information to suggest these discrepancies are wider in scope than what we have announced today, but we are committed to full accountability throughout the entire department and thus will do our due diligence in that regard,” Gilpin said.

Gilpin said the retired trooper under investigation could “absolutely” be punished if allegations against that person are substantiated.

Asked whether the trooper’s pension could be revoked, Gilpin said “it’s a potential” outcome and noted that the department will send relevant records to the State Retirement Board for review.

One state trooper, Eric Chin, has been suspended without pay since last April for allegations that he was paid for overtime shifts that he didn’t work. On Monday, Chin filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination alleging that he was unfairly disciplined because he is Asian, according to his lawyer.

The complaint alleges that at the time Chin was suspended, the State Police allowed at least six lieutenants and one trooper who were accused of similar allegations involving overtime – and are all white — to be reassigned, rather than suspended.

The complaint said: “Since the initial investigation, it has been discovered at least another 20+ troopers were engaging in similar activities and it appears to be the accepted practice within Troop E. No other trooper or supervisor have been disciplined as of this complaint.”

After Gilpin announced Tuesday that more troopers may face discipline, Chin’s lawyer said it was common practice for troopers to sign-up for overtime shifts to do traffic enforcement patrols, then collect the extra pay even when supervisors cancelled the patrols because of weather.

“It’s our intent to show this was a widespread and accepted practice approved by the command staff,” said Attorney Douglas I. Louison, who represents Chin. “Trooper Chin did certainly not instigate or initiate this practice and he was not alone in knowing how it was managed.”

Gilpin was joined at the news conference by Daniel Bennett, the state’s public safety secretary.

In an apparent reference to a series of scandals that have rocked the State Police since Gilpin was appointed to the top post, Bennett praised her for guiding the force through choppy waters.

“She’s had a hard job since the first day she got on” as superintendent, Bennett said. “Every time a difficult issue has come up, she’s dealt with it fairly” with the aim of making “the State Police a better organization.”

The audit was “meticulous,” and Gilpin’s efforts to strengthen overtime accountability will pay dividends, Bennett said.

“What Colonel Gilpin is proposing to do in the future is going to make the State Police a better organization and ensure that incidents like this never happen in the future,” he said.

The overtime scandal is the latest in a litany of recent embarrassing revelations for the State Police.

In November, McKeon and his deputy, Francis Hughes, retired after revelations that McKeon ordered a trooper to alter an arrest report to remove embarrassing information about the daughter of a judge.

Two more high-ranking state police officials linked to the report redactions — Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Risteen and Major Susan Anderson, the commander of the Holden barracks — retired suddenly in February.

The Globe reported in Feb. 23 that Risteen is the former boyfriend of a trooper hired despite her admission in federal court a decade ago that she sold marijuana and laundered money. That trooper, Leigha Genduso, was suspended without pay last month.

And last week, Trooper Jonathan Brown, from the Devens barracks, was relieved of duty and put on administrative leave after he was accused of being drunk at work.

Boston Globe

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