When he should have been writing fishing regulations, Gloucester’s former shellfish constable was writing term papers for his boss.

The Massachusetts Ethics Commission says that the city’s former harbormaster had his subordinate, the shellfish constable, write several college assignments for him.

The shellfish constable wrote five creative writing assignments, three English lit essays, and five papers for a juvenile justice course for Ciarametaro while he was getting his bachelor’s degree.

“To complete Ciarametaro’s college course writing assignments… the Shellfish Constable spent multiple hours reading assigned course material and writing each essay,” the Ethics Commission wrote in a disposition agreement signed by the ex-harbormaster.

At least six of the essays and 20 hours of the work were done while the shellfish constable was on the clock getting paid $39.91 an hour by the city.

The Ethics Commission reached an agreement with Ciarametaro Wednesday to pay the city $1,200 for the misused labor and the state $15,000 in a civil penalty. Ciarametaro signed the agreement earlier this month, admitting to the findings of fact and agreeing that he wouldn’t contest them in the future.

“Ciarametaro knowingly used his Harbormaster position when he repeatedly asked his subordinate, the Shellfish Constable, to complete writing assignments for his courses at the College,” the commission wrote. “These requests were inherently coercive given that a subordinate employee naturally feels pressured and obliged to do what his Department Head requests.”

In the process, he violated several state laws, the commission wrote.

Ciarametaro was Gloucester’s harbormaster from 2016 to 2024, and asked the shellfish constable to do his assignments between February and October of 2020 while enrolled at Endicott College. He was graded nothing below an A- for the classes he submitted plagiarized work for and received his bachelor’s degree from the institution in December 2020.

The commission noted that obtaining the degree would have significantly increased his potential future earnings.

An Endicott spokesperson confirmed that Ciarametaro still has his degree.

“Endicott College is firmly committed to academic integrity,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald. “Upon being made aware of these allegations, the College addressed the matter promptly and appropriately, and fully cooperated with the State Ethics Commission’s investigation.”

David Wilson, executive director of the State Ethics Commission, said in a statement, “A public official who asks a subordinate employee for a personal favor risks taking unlawful advantage of an inherently coercive situation in which the subordinate may feel they can’t say ‘no.’ Regardless of coercion, when the personal favor involves use of the subordinate’s substantially valuable public worktime, the conflict of interest law is violated.”

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Wilson added, “The violation is particularly harmful to public confidence in the integrity of government employees when the favor secures for the public official a clearly improper benefit such as the unearned college course credit Mr. Ciarametaro received.”