Mass. State Police allegedly paid for Pike shifts not worked
By
Kim Ring
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Jan 22, 2018 at 6:20 PM
Updated Jan 23, 2018 at 6:13 AM
Massachusetts state troopers who patrol the Massachusetts Turnpike
were paid for shifts they did not work, state police said Monday.
An ongoing internal audit uncovered discrepancies in payroll and sparked a new investigation that will include the attorney general’s office, a news release from state police indicated.
The scandal is the latest to hit the state police after some of the top brass resigned late last year following a scandal involving a judge’s daughter.
State Attorney General Maura Healey’s office has been investigating the agency after reports that two state troopers were ordered to alter their reports following the arrest of a judge’s daughter. Alli Bibaud was arrested after a car crash in Worcester in October, and two troopers who worked on the case alleged they were ordered to remove from their arrest reports comments indicating Ms. Bibaurd said she performed sex acts in exchange for drugs and offered to engage in lewd behavior with a trooper.
State police conducted an internal audit of Accident Injury Reduction Effort (AIRE) patrol shifts assigned to officers within Troop E - the troop that patrols the turnpike - and found evidence that shifts assigned were not always worked. In spite of that, state police said, troopers were paid though they had not shown up for their shift. The findings of the internal audit were sufficient to merit further investigation.
The AIRE program is the same one Trooper Thomas Clardy was working on when his cruiser was struck, while he was on a traffic stop, by an allegedly impaired driver in March o2016. Trooper Clardy was killed in the crash. The man whose vehicle struck the cruiser is set to go on trial in April.
David K. Njuguna, 31, of 6 Wall St., Webster, is under indictment on charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence of marijuana and other counts in that case.
The Massachusetts State Police will determine the scope of the AIRE patrol discrepancies and will work with the attorney general’s office to decide appropriate action, the news release said.
An ongoing internal audit uncovered discrepancies in payroll and sparked a new investigation that will include the attorney general’s office, a news release from state police indicated.
The scandal is the latest to hit the state police after some of the top brass resigned late last year following a scandal involving a judge’s daughter.
State Attorney General Maura Healey’s office has been investigating the agency after reports that two state troopers were ordered to alter their reports following the arrest of a judge’s daughter. Alli Bibaud was arrested after a car crash in Worcester in October, and two troopers who worked on the case alleged they were ordered to remove from their arrest reports comments indicating Ms. Bibaurd said she performed sex acts in exchange for drugs and offered to engage in lewd behavior with a trooper.
State police conducted an internal audit of Accident Injury Reduction Effort (AIRE) patrol shifts assigned to officers within Troop E - the troop that patrols the turnpike - and found evidence that shifts assigned were not always worked. In spite of that, state police said, troopers were paid though they had not shown up for their shift. The findings of the internal audit were sufficient to merit further investigation.
The AIRE program is the same one Trooper Thomas Clardy was working on when his cruiser was struck, while he was on a traffic stop, by an allegedly impaired driver in March o2016. Trooper Clardy was killed in the crash. The man whose vehicle struck the cruiser is set to go on trial in April.
David K. Njuguna, 31, of 6 Wall St., Webster, is under indictment on charges of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide while driving under the influence of marijuana and other counts in that case.
The Massachusetts State Police will determine the scope of the AIRE patrol discrepancies and will work with the attorney general’s office to decide appropriate action, the news release said.
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