Investigations

On March 25 and March 26, 2019, Eric Chin and Gregory Raftery were sentenced in U.S. District Court, Boston, Massachusetts, in connection with an ongoing investigation into overtime abuse at the Massachusetts State Police (MSP). Chin, a suspended trooper, was sentenced to 1 day in prison, 1 year of supervised release including 3 months of home detention, and restitution of $7,125. Raftery, a retired trooper, was sentenced to 90 days in prison, 1 year of supervised release, and restitution of $51,377. Chin and Raftery both pleaded guilty in 2018.

 

Chin and Raftery were assigned to Troop E, which was responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic regulations along the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate I-90. The overtime in question involved the Accident and Injury Reduction Effort program (AIRE), which aims to reduce accidents and injuries on I-90 through an enhanced presence of MSP troopers, who target vehicles traveling at excessive speeds.

 

In 2016, Chin earned $302,400, including approximately $131,653 in overtime pay for overtime hours that he did not work, including at least one entire 4-hour shift. He concealed his fraud by submitting fraudulent citations designed to create the appearance that he had worked overtime hours when he had not. He also falsely claimed in MSP paperwork and payroll entries that he had worked all of his overtime shifts. Chin admitted collecting $7,125 for overtime hours that he did not work.

 

Raftery admitted that in 2015 and 2016, he was not present and did not work during hundreds of hours of overtime shifts for which he was paid. He admitted that he frequently left overtime shifts early and on multiple occasions did not work overtime shifts at all. To hide his conduct, Raftery submitted bogus motor vehicle citations and falsely claimed they had been issued during overtime shifts that he did not work. He acknowledged that he received over $24,000 in 2015 and almost $30,000 in 2016 for overtime hours that he did not work.

 

In 2016, MSP received more than $10,000 in annual benefits from several DOT grants.

 

DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.