Byline: Scott J. Croteau
WORCESTER - One of the three police sergeants under investigation for allegedly fraudulently claiming overtime pay for time spent testifying in court cases has resigned.
City Manager Michael V. O'Brien confirmed yesterday that Sgt. Michael J. Coakley - a longtime member of the department - resigned. The city manager would not say when, but the Telegram & Gazette learned Sgt. Coakley tendered his resignation late last week.
"It's a personnel matter and I can't comment on the details," Mr. O'Brien said when asked whether the sergeant would still receive a city pension.
Sgt. Coakley was assigned to the License Division and was a supervisor of the Alcohol Enforcement Unit. As part of his assignments, thesergeant routinely attended city License Commission meetings in CityHall and testified in hearings concerning liquor establishments' liquor licenses.
Former Vice Squad Lt. Timothy J. O'Connor remains on paid administrative leave while he is under investigation. Sgts. Eric A. Boss and Faith A. Roche along with Officers James M. O'Rourke, Paul W. Noone and Darnell McGee are also under investigation and were transferred out of their units to other assignments. Police officials have declinedto confirm the names of the seven officers or that they are the onesunder investigation.
The alleged fraudulent court overtime claims were discovered during an audit of the Police Department's expenditures between Jan. 1 andJune 30 of this year. The total amount in question is $80,000 to $100,000.
The officers are accused of manipulating schedules, abusing vacation time and what's been termed other "serious abuse" of court overtime procedures.
The amount of money each of the officers has received for court overtime is part of an internal investigation. Authorities have said the investigation will check the first six months of this year and could go back further if warranted.
According to city payroll records showing the top 250 wage earnersfor 2007, Sgt. Coakley was the eighth-highest-paid city employee taking home a salary of $162,179. The records show he made $14,431 in court overtime and was one of the higher court-overtime earners in 2007.
The highest court-overtime earner in 2007 was Lt. O'Connor, who made $22,813.
Officer O'Rourke made $14,954; Sgt. Boss made $17,490; Officer McGee made $13,829; and Officer Noone made $14,503. All of them were members of the Vice Squad and all high on the court overtime earner listfor 2007. None of those earnings, however, are at issue in the current investigation.Sgt. Roche - who was in the Detective Bureau then the License Division before her transfer - did not receive any court overtime pay in 2007.
In earlier interviews, Police Chief Gary J. Gemme said the audit found "at least a half-dozen" cases of "very serious abuse" of court overtime procedures. He said the internal investigation only involves Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year, so far.
Through the audit, city authorities found seven of the department's top 10 recipients of court overtime pay were assigned to the day shift. All the officers under investigation came from the day shift.
In some cases, the officers were making as much as five times morein court overtime than officers who worked the night shift and who could earn more in overtime because court appearances would force themto come in on their off time.
Authorities are scrutinizing the payroll numbers. The audit discovered the officers allegedly manipulated the schedule and used vacation time indiscriminately to make more court overtime money.
There are also questions on whether some of the officers under investigation attended court at all in some cases where court overtime was claimed.
NAME: WORCESTER POLICE DEPARTMENT
