U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun on Tuesday refused to toss the federal extortion indictment against Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, keeping two criminal counts alive and pushing the case toward a jury. The ruling preserves evidence that prosecutors say ties Tompkins to a disputed stock deal with a cannabis company that federal agents allege was secured under threat of official action.
Judge Says Juries Decide Fights Like This
In a 16-page order, Judge Joun denied Tompkins' efforts to suppress evidence from two search warrants and to dismiss parts of the indictment, writing that at this stage the court has to treat the indictment's allegations as true and let a jury, not the judge, sort out the conflicting stories. Joun also turned down a request from the defense to strike two paragraphs from the charging document, finding the government had adequately spelled out an alleged quid pro quo. Details of the ruling were reported by The Boston Globe.
What Prosecutors Say Happened
Federal prosecutors say Tompkins leaned on an executive at a cannabis company to let him buy pre-IPO stock, then later demanded all his money back when the investment soured. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, court papers state that Tompkins wired $50,000 in November 2020 at roughly $1.73 a share, giving him about 28,883 pre-split shares, or about 14,417 shares after a reverse split. Prosecutors say those shares briefly spiked to an estimated value of $138,403, and that the executive later sent Tompkins five checks between May 2022 and July 2023. Some of the checks were labeled "loan repayment" or "[company] expense," descriptions prosecutors say were used to disguise what the payments really were.
Fallout In Suffolk County And What Comes Next
Tompkins, who has run the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department since 2013, is on administrative leave and previously agreed to "step away" from his post following the indictment, according to WBUR. On Tuesday, Judge Joun set an Aug. 24, 2026 trial date and tightened the pretrial schedule for both sides. A conviction would cost Tompkins his roughly $191,000-a-year job and could put his pension at risk, an outcome highlighted by The Boston Globe.
High Stakes In Federal Court
Tompkins faces two counts of extortion "under color of official right," charges that carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $250,000 per count, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. His lawyers argue the stock deal was nothing more than a private investment and say the email search warrants in the case were overly broad, a position they pressed in written filings and in court. With the suppression motions denied and the indictment left intact, the case now moves into pretrial discovery and, eventually, jury selection, where jurors will decide whether prosecutors have proved an illegal quid pro quo beyond a reasonable doubt.
