BOSTON
A former Boston Police officer pleaded guilty today in connection with an ongoing investigation of overtime fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse, officials announced last week.
Defendant is the eighth officer to plead guilty.
Craig Smalls, 55, of Roxbury, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.
To date, 14 Boston Police officers have been charged in connection with committing overtime fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse. Smalls is the eighth officer to plead guilty.
U.S. District Court Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Oct. 21, 2021. Smalls was charged on June 17, 2021.
Smalls is facing up to 15 years in prison on both charges when he is sentenced.
(NBC 2020 Report)
From at least March 2015 through September 2016, Smalls submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips for overtime hours that he did not work for two overtime shifts at the evidence warehouse.
The first, called “purge” overtime, was a 4 – 8 p.m. weekday shift intended to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. The second shift, called “kiosk” overtime, involved driving to each police district in Boston one Saturday a month to collect old prescription drugs to be burned.
For the “purge” shift, Smalls claimed to have worked from 4 – 8 p.m., but he routinely left at 6 p.m., or earlier. For the “kiosk” shift, Smalls submitted overtime slips claiming to have worked eight-and-one-half hours, when in fact he and, allegedly, other members of the unit only worked three-to-four hours of those shifts.
Between March 2015 and September 2016, Smalls personally collected approximately $16,252 for overtime hours he did not work.
From 2015 through 2019, BPD received annual benefits from the U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Justice in excess of $10,000, which were funded pursuant to numerous federal grants.