Massachusetts state trooper was ‘freaking out’ over stolen gun but never alerted brass: records

A state trooper dishonorably discharged last month was booted off the force for failing to report his gun was stolen after a $763 dinner out with friends in Providence he attended in an unmarked cruiser with the geo-tracking disabled, records state.

It’s all part of an Internal Affairs report the Herald has fought to obtain from the Massachusetts State Police since March.

Those public records, obtained after Secretary of State William Galvin’s office compelled the State Police to turn them over following an appeal from the Herald, show ex-Trooper Dwayne Correia was “freaking out” over the lost gun he failed to report gone.

Correia was assigned to the agency’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section that made 1,474 arrests last year, a slow year due to the pandemic, police say.

“VFAS is one of our most active units and one of the most dangerous assignments on the Department,” said State Police spokesman Dave Procopio Friday.

But the Internal Affairs reports state Correia wasn’t helping out in August 2020 when he traveled to Rhode Island — using his taxpayer-paid gas card and cruiser — for dinner with friends at the Capital Grille and then crashing at the Renaissance Hotel, both in downtown Providence.

That was on Aug. 11, 2020, records state, and one of his female dinner mates told State Police investigators she drank “a couple of martinis and three glasses of wine at dinner.” She added she was “unsure what Trooper Correia had consumed.” They all left a $200 tip, records state.

The gun was stolen from the trooper’s unlocked cruiser in the Renaissance Hotel parking lot hours later while the married trooper was spending the night with the female friend who later told investigators she and the cop were “hanging out” in a hotel room.

The trooper’s car was easily opened up — it appeared unlocked and no alarms set — after 4 a.m. Aug. 12, 2020, and three men appeared to make off with his duty weapon from the trunk. Two hours later Correia is seen opening his cruiser’s door, and appearing to realize his gun is gone, records state.

Troopers carry a Smith & Wesson pistol that is clip-fed and resembles a .45 caliber gun. The internal affairs report adds that seven rounds were missing when the gun was recovered on Sept. 19, 2020, in Rhode Island. State Police there helped out in the case.

Correia’s lawyer Daniel Moynihan is quoted in the reports as saying his client “did not have his gun …  and he’s really not sure where it is” when the brass began asking where it was on Sept. 1, 2020. Moynihan has not returned calls from the Herald.

“When asked about his duty weapon, (on phone) Trooper Correia stated ‘I’ve been advised by my attorney not to answer that question,'” records state from that month. He did not share any details of the night out at the Capital Grille or his sleepover.

“The Department moved swiftly to investigate the facts and circumstances of what occurred once we learned that the former member was no longer in possession of his duty weapon,” Procopio said. “Our investigation, with the assistance of Rhode Island police agencies, allowed us to recover the weapon. … (and) his actions clearly violated the standards of conduct Colonel (Christopher) Mason demands of our personnel.”

Correia, records show, understood he was in deep trouble.

“He was freaking out because he wasn’t able to find his firearm, which was missing from his trunk, from when she met him in Providence a couple of weeks prior,” the woman told State Police during the investigation.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3w62WP5