Last Boston Police officer sentenced in evidence warehouse overtime fraud scheme
The last Boston Police officer involved in a nearly $250,000 overtime fraud scheme has been sentenced.
U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced James Carnes, 61, of Canton, to a day of time served, two years of supervised probation — the first six months of which is to be served under house arrest — a $5,000 fine and $20,106 in restitution.
The sentencing of Carnes, who earned $125,453 in pay from the BPD in 2018, follows that of co-conspirators Michael Murphy, Gerard O’Brien, and Diana Lopez. Murphy and O’Brien — who earned $151,965 and $177,500 respectively in 2018 — got the same sentence as Carnes but with respective restitution amounts of $16,014 and $25,930. Each of them took plea deals.
A fourth officer, Diana Lopez, also pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced Tuesday to 6 months in prison and two years of supervised release, as well as a $5,000 fine and $36,028 in restitution. She filed a notice of appeal the next day.
Lt. Timothy Torigian, Sgt. Robert Twitchell and officers Henry Doherty and Kendra Conway were acquitted following an 11-day trial. A ninth defendant, Officer Ronald Nelson, died on Jan. 15, 2022, ahead of trial and his charges were dismissed the next month.
The conspiracy centered around the Boston Police Department’s Evidence Control Unit, and in particular the officers working the BPD Evidence Warehouse located at 1555 Hyde Park Ave. in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Nine officers, including a lieutenant and two sergeants, were arrested and charged in late August 2020.
Prosecutors say that Carnes for two and a half years, from at least July 2016 through February 2019, “submitted hundreds of false and fraudulent overtime slips” — fully endorsed by supervising officers who were in on the game. Prosecutors figured his fraudulent cut to be about $20,106. That’s about 8% of the nearly $250,000 all the conspirators pocketed in the same time period.
The conspiracy in general lasted a year and a half before Carnes was assigned to the warehouse, according to court filings, with some co-conspirators claiming fraudulent hours as early as January 2015.
The overtime slips, which are filled out for each OT shift, must be signed by the officer claiming the overtime and a supervisor, according to the indictment filed in the case.
“Notably, the BPD’s overtime slip—in bold and underline—asks BPD employees to list the ‘Actual Hours Worked’ for each overtime shift,” the prosecution’s sentencing memo states. The document included an actual slip Carnes filled out that indicates he worked four hours: from 4 to 8 p.m. following his regular shift.
But records show that he and other officers actually left that day — May 17, 2018 — at 5:57 p.m., or two hours less than claimed, based on records for the warehouse’s extensive alarm system, which workers must disarm to exit.
That was just half of the conspiracy, however.
Prosecutors say that officers and supervisors assigned to the warehouse were also presented with a monthly opportunity to pick up materials from district “kiosks” around the city. In this job, which was also paid on an hourly overtime basis between the hours of 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., workers would drive around to the kiosks and pick up the contents, which was material like discarded and unused prescription drugs, and drive them to an incinerator in Saugus.
Prosecutors say that officers working these shifts — which are the same as those indicted for the warehouse “purge” shifts — would also submit fraudulent hours and the supervisors would approve them.
The Boston Police Evidence Warehouse on Aug. 10. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Gerard O’Brien followed by Henry Doherty leaves court as current and former members of the Boston Police Department were arraigned on charges relating to claiming false overtime on Sept. 2, 2020. O’Brien would later plead guilty and Doherty was acquitted following a trial. (Staff Photo By Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)