Sheriff Evangelidis denies retaliating against ex-employee
By
Brad Petrishen
Telegram & Gazette Staff
By
Brad Petrishen
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Jan 10, 2018 at 10:40 PM
Updated Jan 11, 2018 at 9:08 AM
WORCESTER – Worcester County Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis and his former top administrator denied under oath Wednesday the allegation from a former employee who says he was fired for blowing the whistle on political activity.
In a sometimes contentious cross-examination in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Evangelidis testified that former Millbury selectman Jude Cristo was let go because former Special Sheriff Shawn Jenkins recommended eliminating his job to save money.
“There were many changes made during the transition period,” Mr. Evangelidis said, adding that he’d never heard of Mr. Cristo’s accusations about political activity until long after he was terminated.
Mr. Cristo, 59, has been in litigation with the sheriff’s office since 2011, when he alleged he was fired two days after Mr. Evangelidis assumed office for reporting political activity among jail employees during the sheriff’s election campaign. He is seeking back pay as well as compensation for lost future wages; the administrator was making about $72,000 per year at the time of his departure.
Mr. Cristo said he informed Mr. Jenkins in 2010 that multiple employees were supporting an internal candidate for sheriff, Scot Bove, on work time and inside the jail. He said he also told Mr. Jenkins that Mr. Bove was out campaigning when he was marked as being at work.
Mr. Jenkins testified Wednesday that he looked into complaints raised by Mr. Cristo at the time they were lodged and did not believe they had merit. He said he did not remember Mr. Cristo making some of the allegations in his complaint, including an allegation that Mr. Bove was out campaigning during the day instead of working.
Mr. Jenkins had trouble recalling answers to numerous questions posed by Mr. Cristo’s attorney, Timothy M. Burke, and the lawyer’s questions became more pointed as questioning went on.
“I guess, yes,” Mr. Jenkins, currently special sheriff in Middlesex County, said at one point when asked whether he was familiar with the state’s conflict-of-interest laws.
Mr. Jenkins also had to be reminded through his deposition testimony that there had been plans at some point to demote Mr. Bove.
Mr. Jenkins pushed back against an allegation from Mr. Burke that the demotion was planned because of shoddy work attendance. He said the demotion wasn’t planned until after Mr. Bove lost the primary, when questions about his attitude following his defeat arose.
Mr. Bove retired shortly after the election, according to deposition testimony read into the record Wednesday.
Mr. Cristo testified Wednesday that he told Mr. Jenkins that Capt. Jason Dickhaut, a good friend of Mr. Bove’s, was campaigning for him on work time and also passing out nomination papers in the parking lot.
″‘These guys aren’t too bright,’” Mr. Cristo quoted Mr. Jenkins as responding when he made the latter charge.
Public employees are prohibited by law from engaging in political activity using public resources or on work time.
Mr. Cristo testified that to his knowledge nothing was done to
investigate the complaint, but that Capt. Dickhaut came into his office
and screamed at him one day that his schedule was none of Mr. Cristo’s
business.
Mr. Cristo said he immediately went into Mr. Jenkins’ office next door and asked if he’d heard what occurred.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I heard the whole thing,’ and he burst out laughing,” Mr. Cristo said. “He thought it was hilarious.”
Mr. Jenkins recounted the episode differently.
“The only voice I heard yelling was Jude Cristo’s voice,” he testified.
Mr. Cristo testified Wednesday that he supported Mr. Bove’s rival in the Democratic primary, Thomas J. Foley, who went on to lose to Mr. Evangelidis in the general election.
He alleged that after Mr. Bove was knocked out of the race, he saw Capt. Dickhaut – who is still with the office – passing out Evangelidis bumper stickers.
Mr. Jenkins confirmed that Mr. Cristo complained to him about Capt.
Dickhaut passing out nomination papers for Mr. Bove in the parking lot.
He said he called Capt. Dickhaut to his office and the man denied it.
“He said he wouldn’t do such a thing,” Mr. Jenkins said. “And I reminded him that he couldn’t do anything like that in the future.”
Mr. Jenkins confirmed that he did not order an internal affairs investigation as a result of Mr. Cristo’s allegation, saying he took the man at his word.
Later in the cross-examination, he told Mr. Burke that he had no reason to disbelieve Mr. Cristo’s allegation, either.
Mr. Burke struck an adversarial tone with the lawman, who took exception to several lines of questioning.
“My job is not to look at cameras all day to see who is punching in and out,” Mr. Jenkins said in reply to a suggestion from Mr. Burke that he could have probed allegations of employees not showing up for work by reviewing cameras.
Mr. Jenkins said he would have known if Mr. Bove and Mr. Dickhaut weren’t doing their jobs because he was in contact with them daily. He said he looked into concerns Mr. Cristo raised about payroll getting held up on account of Mr. Bove’s alleged absence and was told by the payroll administrator there were no issues.
Both sides rested their cases Wednesday. Mr. Cristo’s sole witness
was himself, while the state called Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Evangelidis.
Asked later by the Telegram & Gazette why he did not call any other witnesses, Mr. Burke said he did not believe others involved would tell the truth, noting that some still work for the jail.
In his testimony, Mr. Evangelidis stressed repeatedly that he was an outsider to the jail who came in with efforts to eliminate politics and increase efficiency.
“Sometimes the price (of good government) is jobs getting eliminated,” his attorney, Andrew J. Abdella, said in his closing argument.
Mr. Burke disagreed, telling jurors, as a teary-eyed Mr. Cristo embraced his wife, that his client is the man who stood up for good government.
“You’re the ones who decide right and wrong,” he told them. “Do the right thing, because he did.”
The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday morning.
In a sometimes contentious cross-examination in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Evangelidis testified that former Millbury selectman Jude Cristo was let go because former Special Sheriff Shawn Jenkins recommended eliminating his job to save money.
“There were many changes made during the transition period,” Mr. Evangelidis said, adding that he’d never heard of Mr. Cristo’s accusations about political activity until long after he was terminated.
Mr. Cristo, 59, has been in litigation with the sheriff’s office since 2011, when he alleged he was fired two days after Mr. Evangelidis assumed office for reporting political activity among jail employees during the sheriff’s election campaign. He is seeking back pay as well as compensation for lost future wages; the administrator was making about $72,000 per year at the time of his departure.
Mr. Cristo said he informed Mr. Jenkins in 2010 that multiple employees were supporting an internal candidate for sheriff, Scot Bove, on work time and inside the jail. He said he also told Mr. Jenkins that Mr. Bove was out campaigning when he was marked as being at work.
Mr. Jenkins testified Wednesday that he looked into complaints raised by Mr. Cristo at the time they were lodged and did not believe they had merit. He said he did not remember Mr. Cristo making some of the allegations in his complaint, including an allegation that Mr. Bove was out campaigning during the day instead of working.
Mr. Jenkins had trouble recalling answers to numerous questions posed by Mr. Cristo’s attorney, Timothy M. Burke, and the lawyer’s questions became more pointed as questioning went on.
“I guess, yes,” Mr. Jenkins, currently special sheriff in Middlesex County, said at one point when asked whether he was familiar with the state’s conflict-of-interest laws.
Mr. Jenkins pushed back against an allegation from Mr. Burke that the demotion was planned because of shoddy work attendance. He said the demotion wasn’t planned until after Mr. Bove lost the primary, when questions about his attitude following his defeat arose.
Mr. Bove retired shortly after the election, according to deposition testimony read into the record Wednesday.
Mr. Cristo testified Wednesday that he told Mr. Jenkins that Capt. Jason Dickhaut, a good friend of Mr. Bove’s, was campaigning for him on work time and also passing out nomination papers in the parking lot.
″‘These guys aren’t too bright,’” Mr. Cristo quoted Mr. Jenkins as responding when he made the latter charge.
Public employees are prohibited by law from engaging in political activity using public resources or on work time.
Mr. Cristo said he immediately went into Mr. Jenkins’ office next door and asked if he’d heard what occurred.
“He said, ‘Yeah, I heard the whole thing,’ and he burst out laughing,” Mr. Cristo said. “He thought it was hilarious.”
Mr. Jenkins recounted the episode differently.
“The only voice I heard yelling was Jude Cristo’s voice,” he testified.
Mr. Cristo testified Wednesday that he supported Mr. Bove’s rival in the Democratic primary, Thomas J. Foley, who went on to lose to Mr. Evangelidis in the general election.
He alleged that after Mr. Bove was knocked out of the race, he saw Capt. Dickhaut – who is still with the office – passing out Evangelidis bumper stickers.
“He said he wouldn’t do such a thing,” Mr. Jenkins said. “And I reminded him that he couldn’t do anything like that in the future.”
Mr. Jenkins confirmed that he did not order an internal affairs investigation as a result of Mr. Cristo’s allegation, saying he took the man at his word.
Later in the cross-examination, he told Mr. Burke that he had no reason to disbelieve Mr. Cristo’s allegation, either.
Mr. Burke struck an adversarial tone with the lawman, who took exception to several lines of questioning.
“My job is not to look at cameras all day to see who is punching in and out,” Mr. Jenkins said in reply to a suggestion from Mr. Burke that he could have probed allegations of employees not showing up for work by reviewing cameras.
Mr. Jenkins said he would have known if Mr. Bove and Mr. Dickhaut weren’t doing their jobs because he was in contact with them daily. He said he looked into concerns Mr. Cristo raised about payroll getting held up on account of Mr. Bove’s alleged absence and was told by the payroll administrator there were no issues.
Asked later by the Telegram & Gazette why he did not call any other witnesses, Mr. Burke said he did not believe others involved would tell the truth, noting that some still work for the jail.
In his testimony, Mr. Evangelidis stressed repeatedly that he was an outsider to the jail who came in with efforts to eliminate politics and increase efficiency.
“Sometimes the price (of good government) is jobs getting eliminated,” his attorney, Andrew J. Abdella, said in his closing argument.
Mr. Burke disagreed, telling jurors, as a teary-eyed Mr. Cristo embraced his wife, that his client is the man who stood up for good government.
“You’re the ones who decide right and wrong,” he told them. “Do the right thing, because he did.”
The jury is scheduled to begin deliberations Thursday morning.
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