National Roundup

Massachusetts
9 Boston police officers are charged with overtime fraud
BOSTON (AP) — Nine current and former Boston police officers who worked in the department’s evidence warehouse were arrested Wednesday and charged with collecting a total of more than $200,000 in overtime pay they were not entitled to, federal prosecutors said.

The officers, six of them retired and three active, are each charged with conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.

They are scheduled to make initial appearances in federal court via videoconference later Wednesday.

“Beyond the theft of funds, this kind of official misconduct also erodes trust in public institutions, at a time when that trust is most needed,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a written statement.

The federal investigation was conducted with the cooperation of Boston Police Commissioner William Gross.

“The allegations and behavior alleged in today’s indictments is very troubling and in no way reflect the attitudes of the hard-working employees of the Boston Police Department,” Gross said.

The active officers have been suspended without pay, he said.

While working in the evidence warehouse, where they were responsible for, among other things, storing, cataloging and retrieving evidence, the defendants routinely left overtime shifts two or more hours early and then submitted fraudulent overtime slips claiming to have worked the entire shift, prosecutors said.

The scheme dated to May 2016, authorities said.

The officers are subject to federal charges because the Boston Police Department received federal grants, prosecutors said.

New York
Bar betting on violence in Chicago, New York is investigated
MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities are investigating a Long Island bar that posted on Instagram that it was taking bets on whether Chicago or New York City would see more shootings over Labor Day weekend.

The Cliffton, a bar in Patchogue, New York, shared photos of a paper grid hung in the bar with patrons placing bets on the number of shootings in the two cities, Newsday reported Tuesday. The winner would take home an unspecified cash prize.

The betting is “not only sickening, but also appears illegal under the Alcoholic Beverage Control law,” the State Liquor Authority said in a statement to the newspaper.

The state’s alcohol and beverage law prohibits gambling at establishments with a liquor license, with few exceptions.

The caption of the post read, “Let the shooting sprees begin!” the newspaper reported. The Cliffton’s Instagram page is private.

“These reports are repugnant and those responsible for this gambling pool should be ashamed,” Rich Azzopardi, a Cuomo spokesman, said to the newspaper.

The Long Island bar also refused to let representatives of the State Liquor Authority conduct an inspection this week, which the agency says is itself grounds to revoke the bar’s liquor license.

Brian Neal, owner of The Cliffton, did not return a request for comment from the newspaper.

“All it does is raise the angst and anger of others,” Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri said. “To be buying a box to see how many people die is something I cannot fathom. It’s not who we are as a community.”

Cities across the country have seen a surge in shootings over the summer, but the spike defies easy explanation. The increase in violence likely represents a mix of factors, including record unemployment levels, the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, stay-at-home orders, intense stress and the weather.

New Hampshire
Trump campaign wants to intervene in absentee ballot lawsuit
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee want to intervene in a lawsuit by the American Federation of Teachers challenging New Hampshire’s voting procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.

New Hampshire Public Radio  reports  the union sued to force New Hampshire to extend its deadline for accepting absentee ballots by mail; to cover absentee ballot postage costs; to allow wider use of absentee ballot dropboxes; and to permit third-party groups to return absentee ballots on voters’ behalf. Similar lawsuits have been filed in other states.

The lawsuit is focused on the November election. The AFT says the changes are necessary to ensure as many people as possible can safely participate.

State officials say changing the rules now would only create more problems.

“What the plaintiffs want in this case is judicial rewriting of most or a substantial portion of our absentee ballot laws,” Assistant Attorney General Anthony Galdieri told a judge during a virtual hearing Tuesday. “And the state has exceptional concerns that that’s going to create voter confusion, it’s going to create election official confusion and it has the potential to result in the disenfranchisement of voters.”

In New Hampshire, absentee ballots sent by mail must arrive by 5 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.

Virginia
Man sentenced for marijuana DUI after boy, 5, died in crash
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man has been sentenced to a year of work release for driving under the influence of marijuana during a crash that killed his then-girlfriend’s 5-year-old son.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Tuesday that Datron L. Pierce, 23, pleaded no contest to a DUI charge in Chesterfield County. He did so in exchange for charges being dropped for aggravated DUI manslaughter, possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.

Prosecutors said they didn’t have enough evidence to try Pierce on the manslaughter count. They said they had no witnesses who could reinforce Pierce’s level of impairment. He did not take a field sobriety test because he was injured and taken to the hospital.

The boy who died was Bryan Cameron Hughes Jr. He was sitting in a child seat in the rear of the vehicle when the crash occurred.

Pierce admitted to having smoked marijuana at about noon that day. A hospital drug test showed he had between 0.014 and 0.004 milligrams of THC per liter of blood. The levels were consistent with having ingested marijuana within a four-hour time frame.

Defense attorney Bill Linka asked that Pierce be allowed to serve his 12-month sentence on work release. Chesterfield Circuit Judge Lynn Brice granted the request and ordered him to report to jail next month.