A former Boston police captain was arrested Tuesday and charged in connection with an ongoing investigation into overtime fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse.
Richard Evans, 62, of Hanover, Massachusetts, was charged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday with one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud.
He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in federal court in Boston later Tuesday.
“The public counts on police supervisors to lead by example and serve as models of honor, integrity and professionalism,” Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell said in a statement. “When they break the law for personal financial gain with the officers they supervise, they not only violate the trust of the public, but they dishonor their fellow officers.”
Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said it is “deeply troubling when officers who have sworn to uphold the law violate their oath and use their badge as a license to commit a crime.”
According to the indictment, Evans oversaw the Boston Police Department’s Evidence Control Unit, which was responsible for storing, cataloging and retrieving evidence at the warehouse. Evidence Control Unit officers were eligible to earn overtime pay of 1.5 times their regular hourly pay rate for overtime assignments.
It is alleged that beginning in at least March 2015, Evans and other officers 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.
The indictment alleges that the fraud occurred during one overtime shift, called “purge” overtime, that was focused on reducing the inventory of the evidence warehouse. The shift was supposed to be performed from 4 to 8 p.m. on weekdays. On days which Evans claimed to have worked until 8 p.m., the warehouse was closed, locked and alarmed well before 8 p.m., and often by 6 p.m. or earlier. Despite this, it is alleged that Evans routinely submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips claiming to have worked from 4 to 8 p.m. Evans also endorsed the fraudulent overtime slips of his subordinates.
From March 2015 to February 2019, Evans and his co-conspirators allegedly collected tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent overtime. Specifically, Evans allegedly received over $12,395 for overtime hours he did not work and endorsed dozens of fraudulent overtime slips submitted by subordinates.
From 2015 through 2018, the Boston Police Department received annual benefits from the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Justice in excess of $10,000, which were funded pursuant to numerous federal grants.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after nine current and retired Boston police officers were charged in September of 2020 with committing over $200,000 in overtime fraud at the 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 charged with one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.
Prosecutors allege that the nine officers collectively embezzled over $200,000 in overtime pay between May of 2016 and February of 2019. Torigian alone received more than $43,000 for overtime hours he never worked. Twitchell, O’Brien and Doherty each received over $25,000; Carnes and Lopez over $20,000; and Murphy, Nelson and Conway over $15,000 for hours they didn’t work.
More recently, in January of 2021, a former Boston Police Department clerk was charged with forging her supervisors’ signatures to boost her overtime pay by nearly $30,000 over a two-year period.
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