Peabody Settles With Mayor's Father, Convicted Police Lieutenant

PEABODY, MA -- Edward Bettencourt, the father of Peabody Mayor Edward Bettencourt Jr., will received $154,115 in a settlement with the city for health insurance costs, owed sick time and interest. The elder Bettencourt was a Peabody Police lieutenant when he was convicted in 2008 of posing as 21 of his colleagues to check their civil service exam scores online. In 2016 the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that forcing Bettencourt to give up his pension amounted to an excessive fine and violated the 8th Amendment of the Constitution.

Peabody City Council agreed to the settlement in executive session Thursday, according to the Salem News, which first reported this story. Mayor Bettencourt and the city's three solicitors recused themselves from the decision, which required City Council to also approve $12,500 in outside legal counsel fees.

The Peabody Retirement fund has already paid the elder Bettencourt $$370,920 following the 2016 decision. Following his 2008 conviction, Bettencourt, then 54, was fined $10,500. He filed for retirement after his conviction, but the conviction, under previous city rules, required him to forfeit his pension.

For more on this story, see the Salem News. Subscribe to Peabody Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).