Former Boston cop pleads guilty in overtime fraud scheme

A former Boston police officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday in connection with an ongoing investigation of overtime fraud at the police department’s evidence warehouse.

Joseph Nee, 48, of Randolph pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.

The maximum penalty he could face at his Sept. 24 sentencing by U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris for the first count is five years in prison and 10 years in prison for the second. For each count, the maximum penalty also includes three years of supervised release after completing the sentence and a fine of up to $250,000, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Grady of the Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit said.

However, under a plea agreement, Grady recommended from 18 to 24 months, although he said his recommendation could be as high as 21 to 27 months if an unspecified prior offense placed Nee in a higher criminal history category. Saris is not bound by either recommendation.

Nee admitted that from at least January 2015 through August 2017, he submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips for hours that he did not work in two overtime shifts at the evidence warehouse, Grady said.

The first was a 4-to-8 p.m. weekday shift intended to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. The second shift involved driving to each police district one Saturday a month to collect old prescription drugs to be burned.

For the first shift, Nee claimed to have worked from 4 to 8 p.m., Grady said, but he routinely left at 6 p.m. or earlier. For the second shift, Nee submitted overtime slips claiming to have worked 8 1/2 hours, when he and allegedly other members of the unit actually worked only three to four hours of those shifts, Grady said. As a result, from January 2015 to August 2017, Nee collected $12,636 for overtime hours he did not work, Grady said.

In September 2020, nine Boston police officers were arrested and charged for their roles in an overtime fraud scheme that prosecutors said collectively embezzled more than $250,000 from May 2016 to February 2019.

As part of the ongoing investigation, three other officers were charged: former captain Richard Evans and former sergeants George Finch and William Baxter. Baxter is scheduled to plead guilty on Friday, Finch pleaded guilty on June 1, and Evans pleaded not guilty on April 8.

From 2015 through 2019, the Boston Police Department received annual benefits from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Justice in excess of $10,000 in federal grants.

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