A former Massachusetts State trooper who ripped off taxpayers within the Troop E extra time scandal misplaced his bid earlier than the state’s highest court docket to regain his pension.
Retired Trooper Gregory Raftery joined the drive in 1996 and retired in 2018 at age 47, racking up greater than 21 years of eligible service for the company’s pension plan, which benefited him to greater than $72,000 per yr, in line with court docket data.
However simply months after his retirement he pleaded responsible in federal court docket in Boston to extra time fraud — making him ineligible for pension advantages in line with Massachusetts state regulation.
That’s how the Retirement Board and a District Courtroom noticed the difficulty. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Courtroom reviewed Raftery’s enchantment and agreed, upholding these prior rulings.
“In no event shall any member after final conviction of a criminal offense involving violation of the laws applicable to his office or position, be entitled to receive a retirement allowance … nor shall any beneficiary be entitled to receive any benefits under such provisions on account of such member,” the relevant regulation states.
An accounting of his pension confirmed a complete steadiness of $1.025 million, in line with the SJC choice.
Raftery argued that being disadvantaged of his pension was each “an excessive fine and cruel or unusual punishment” primarily based on the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. SJC Justice Scott L. Kafker disagreed with each arguments, ruling that the pension loss was a tremendous however was not extreme, and that the “cruel and unusual” declare was with out advantage.
The fraud
Raftery was a member of MSP Troop E, which oversaw the Massachusetts turnpike. He was eligible for extra time shifts within the Accident Harm Discount Effort (AIRE) and the X-Crew applications.
Below company guidelines, Raftery might solely work these extra time shifts after finishing his common eight-hour shift, or through the use of earned day without work to cowl for any of these hours.
Additional time hours for these shifts had been paid for, a minimum of partially, by the U.S. Division of Transportation, making fraudulent use of the funds a federal challenge.
In every of the years federal prosecutors targeted on, 2015 and 2016, Raftery took residence greater than $80,000 in such extra time cash. In 2015, in line with paperwork in his federal court docket case, Raftery made $202,769, together with about $82,514 in extra time pay. In 2016 he made $219,669, of which $87,607 was extra time.
In 2015, Raftery claimed greater than 140 AIRE extra time shifts, in line with federal charging paperwork, which might imply a complete of 560 hours of extra time primarily based on the four-hour shifts. He claimed 150 such shifts the subsequent yr, that means 600 hours of extra time.
Federal prosecutors proved that he would typically depart these shifts early — perhaps after an hour, perhaps after three hours — or didn’t truly work them in any respect. He hid his ruse by submitting faux site visitors citations making it seem like he was working these hours.
In pleading responsible, Raftery admitted to receiving greater than $24,000 in 2015 and $30,000 in 2016 for bogus shifts.
Then-Gov. Charlie Baker disbanded Troop E in 2018 after investigations started to level to widespread wrongdoing.
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