3 MA State Troopers Arrested For Stealing Government Funds: DOJ

BOSTON, MA — Three Massachusetts State Troopers were arrested on charges of stealing government funds, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday morning.

Lt. David Wilson and Troopers Paul Cesan and Gary Herman were arrested for changing the date and time on old tickets and submitting them to the police, according to officials. Two of them were retired and one had been suspended earlier.

The three face charges of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds. They allegedly put in for traffic enforcement overtime shifts they did not work in 2016 and earned between $12,000 and $29,000.

"Let me be clear that today's charges are the beginning and not the end of this federal investigation," said US Attorney Andrew Lelling during a morning press conference.

The announcement comes a month after a State Police scandal related to the alleged abuse and theft of overtime pay, as well as other misconduct, resulted in all of Troop E being disbanded. A federal grand jury investigation followed. Lelling said the agency was made aware of possible corruption about a year ago, tipped off in part by a trooper who got caught with something similar and said others did what he did, too.

FBI Special Agent in charge Hank Shaw had harsh words for those who were arrested.

"These troopers selfishly tarnished the reputation and badge," said Shaw.

"I think this is unfortunate I think this is why you have federal enforcement," said Lelling. "I think you need the Feds to look into this kind of thing so you have a thorough independent investigation."

As for whether the overtime scandal is systemic:

"We can't know at this stage how much money we're talking about," he said noting this was for 2016 alone only three troopers were arrested. "We're unsure of whether this is systemic or confined to Troop E."

Lelling said he thought a root issue was an oversight and compliance issue that many police departments have to deal with.

Gov. Charlie Baker and the head of the State Police pledged to win back the public's trust with a series of reforms including instituting GPS on trooper cars and having troopers wear body cams.

Lelling said he didn't want to paint the entire State Police as corrupt but his office took the issue seriously, he said.

"Allegations like this where you could have widespread corruption, in some ways petty corruption," said Lelling. "I think you need someone to look at that because that kind of rot tends to spread."

>>>This Week: Former State Police Payroll Director Pleads Guilty

Patch will update this breaking news story

Catch up on the State Trooper overtime scandal:

• State Police Scandal Update: GPS On Cruisers, Troop E
• State Police Reforms: Troop Eliminated, Body Cams, More

For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to your Free neighborhood Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.

Photo by Jenna Fisher, Patch staff