MBTA Operator Paid 'Michael Myers' To Beat Him: Prosecutors

There's got to be a better way to make money than conspiring with Michael Myers to attack you. But that's just what an MBTA trolley operator is accused of doing.

Thomas Lucey, 46, of Saugus was charged Wednesday with two counts of insurance fraud and single counts of workers’ compensation fraud, misleading a police investigation, and perjury. The charges stem from what appeared to be an assault by someone dressed up as horror icon Michael Myers on Halloween 2016.

A man wearing a Michael Myers mask with dark overalls boarded the Mattapan Trolley at Cedar Grove Station shortly after midnight on Oct. 31. The Myers character, carrying a plastic pumpkin, reportedly attacked Lucey, the operator, by pulling him out of the trolley and repeatedly punching him. Surveillance footage caught Myers fleeing the scene.

Officers fingerprinted the plastic pumpkin left behind, prints which led to an acquaintance of Lucey who cooperated with the investigation, prosecutors said. He told Transit Police that Lucey paid him $2,000 for his role in the "attack," something corroborated by bank and phone records.

Lucey had received workers’ compensation after the "attack," allegedly making false statements and signing the document under the pains and penalties of perjury. Lucey had claimed post-traumatic stress, leading to his receiving long-term disability.

"Effective investigators follow the evidence wherever it leads," Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said. "Here, it led us away from first appearances and toward a staged assault for financial gain. We allege that this was a deliberate deception and a crime. Every dollar spent on a fraudulent claim is a dollar that can’t go to someone who deserved it."

Lucey is scheduled to be arraigned March 20 in Suffolk Superior Court.

Screenshot from Transit Police footage