A former sergeant of the Boston Police Department has been handed down a sentence for his part in an overtime fraud scheme within the department's evidence warehouse. George Finch, age 62, was sentenced to three years of probation and six months of home detention and ordered to pay back $11,310, according to the Department of Justice website. The conviction came after Finch pleaded guilty, in June 2021, to charges including one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and another of embezzlement from a federal agency receiving those funds.
Investigations revealed that from at least March 2015 through December 2016, Finch was inflating the hours he worked—claiming to dispose of old evidence during "purge" shifts and collecting old prescription drugs for disposal during "kiosk" shifts. However, records showed that Finch, and seemingly other officers, would leave hours early from their designated shifts while still submitting slips for full overtime pay. Finch fraudulently claimed approximately $16,151 for hours not truly worked. To date, over a dozen officers from the Boston Police Department have been charged in connection with the overarching overtime scam, with Finch becoming the fifth officer sentenced.
The funds siphoned by the fraudulent activities were pulled from annual benefits exceeding $10,000 that the department received from federal grants provided by agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Justice from 2015 through 2019. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with Jodi Cohan and Ryan T. Geach, Special Agents in Charge at the FBI and DOJ Inspector General's Office respectively, announced the sentencing. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Grady of the Criminal Division, as noted on the Department of Justice website.
In context, the sentencing of Finch is part of a broader crackdown on abuse within the department. The announcement of his sentencing was made following a concerted effort by federal officers to address corruption and restore integrity to the Boston Police Department's operations. As financial records and work logs were scrutinized, a pattern of deceit stretched beyond the actions of a singular, but towards a culture that may have been pervasive within the department’s evidence warehouse. While the impacts of these fraudulent activities deal a hit to both the department's reputation and the taxpayer's trust, the continued investigation and subsequent sentencing of involved officers signal a move towards rectifying past digressions.
