Stoughton Housing Authority Executive Director Suspended Without Pay

Accused drug thief Greg Bartlett has been suspended from his job as the executive director of the Stoughton Housing Authority.

Facing charges related to allegations of theft prescription drugs from an elderly resident, the commissioners of the SHA voted unanimously to suspend Bartlett without pay and enter an agreement with the Taunton Housing Authority to allow them to assist Stoughton in the interim.

The exact terms and the ways Taunton will assist Stoughton are still to be determined, with board members simply stating that their resources will be available.

Since the arrest, it is unknown who has been running the housing authority. When asked who has been running the housing authority since the arrest, Chairman Kevin Wilder said he has been at the assisted a couple of times to but declined to say who was running the authority in Bartlett’s absence.

On Jan. 5, Bartlett, who chose not to be present at Tuesday’s meeting, was arraigned and charged with breaking and entering in the daytime to commit a felony; larceny from a building; theft of a controlled substance; larceny of property valued at over $250 from a person over age 60. All four charges are felonies.

Prior to the meeting, the family of the victim offered to give the authority surveillance video of Bartlett allegedly stealing drugs but footage from the camera was decline according to Vice Chairman Donald Brady, adding they did not accept the video due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Bartlett is accused of stealing prescription drugs from a 90-year-old resident of the housing authority. During the arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Peter Kelly told Judge Stevens that the victim had filled a prescription for 120 opiate pain pills on Dec. 28, 2014. Although the prescription allowed for a dosage of as many as 3 pills a day, the victim normally took only one before bedtime. After taking two nightly doses, a relative of the victim counted the remaining pills and reported finding only 61, rather than the anticipated 118.

The family installed a common video surveillance system in the victim’s unit, with the camera trained at the night stand where the pills were kept, ADA Kelly told the Court. On Wednesday, Dec. 31, the victim kept her habit of attended the weekly prayer meeting organized among residents of Portuguese descent at the Capen Street building where the victim has lived for 20 years. Following the prayer meeting, there were only 46 pills remaining. This prompted the family to review the video surveillance, which led to their contacting the Stoughton Police Department.

SPD’s investigation, including review of that video, led to the arrest of Mr. Bartlett on Jan. 2, 2015, at the Stoughton Police Station.

Barlett was released on bail and multiple conditions including that he stay away from and have no contact from the alleged victim of the theft, that he remain drug and alcohol free and submit to random chemical testing, that he not work with the elderly while on bail and that he do no work at the Stoughton Housing Authority.