Troopers accused of OT fraud, destroying records set for federal trial in Worcester

WORCESTER - Two former state police commanders accused of orchestrating and trying to cover up overtime theft are slated to go on trial Monday in federal court in Worcester.

Lt. Daniel J. Griffin of Belmont and Sgt. William R. Robertson of Westborough are slated to begin selecting jurors Monday morning for what’s expected to be a weekslong trial in U.S. District Court.

It’s been nearly three years since Griffin, then 57, and Robertson, then 58, were arrested in December 2020 in connection with the allegations.

Federal prosecutors, then under the direction of former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew E. Lelling, alleged Griffin and Robertson directed and tried to cover up overtime theft within a traffic unit they supervised.

Five troopers ensnared in the probe, including the pair, collectively stole more than $132,000 in federal funds from 2015 to 2017, the government alleged in a 2020 indictment.

The indictment alleges that Griffin “directed” Robertson and the others to show up late and leave early from multiple federally funded traffic enforcement assignments.

It alleges the supervisors, after a separate overtime theft scandal involving the later-disbanded Troop E emerged, hatched a plan to mitigate their own thefts.

The indictment alleges that Robertson ordered an unnamed trooper to shred a folder containing incriminating forms. It says the same trooper later took more forms home and burned them.

“Good,” the government alleges Robertson told the trooper when informed of the burnt documents.

The indictment alleges that Griffin, after learning of a grand jury inquest in September or October 2020, contacted the same trooper and said, “Don’t tell them [federal investigators] (expletive) anything.”

Lelling said that when state police investigated what happened to the forms, Griffin misled superiors by telling them the forms were “inadvertently discarded or misplaced” during office moves.

Court documents filed recently indicate that federal prosecutors aim to call some of the implicated troopers not named in the indictment as witnesses in the case. Also listed as a witness is former State Police Col. Kerry Gilpin.

Robertson is charged with one count of conspiracy to steal federal funds, one count of aiding and abetting theft of federal funds and three counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud.

Griffin is facing the same charges as Robertson, along with four additional counts of wire fraud and 11 counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns.

The latter counts relate to allegations Griffin hid income from the IRS and a pricey private school to which he sent his kids.

According to the indictment, Griffin owned a company, Knight Protection Services, that escorted art to museums nationwide and provided security at Massachusetts college campuses.

The indictment alleges he hid $700,000 in profits from the company from the IRS.

It also alleges Griffin hid $175,000 in income from an unnamed private school in Belmont to which he sent his children when he applied for financial aid.

According to a trial brief the government filed earlier this month, the false statements allowed Griffin to obtain more than $100,000 in financial aid from about 2016 to 2020.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Former Mass. state police commanders facing trial for overtime fraud