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Former State Police sergeant gets 3 years for role in overtime scam

62-year-old William Robertson, of Westborough, will also pay $142,774 in restitution and forfeit $32,180.

The graduation ceremony for the Massachusetts State Police. (Massachusetts State Police)

May 1, 2024

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The second state trooper involved in a years-long overtime fraud ring, stealing tens of thousands of dollars, will spend three years in federal prison, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

62-year-old William W. Robertson, of Westborough, is a former sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police. A federal judge sentenced him on Tuesday to three years in prison, followed by three years supervised release. Robertson will also pay $142,774 in restitution and forfeit $32,180, prosecutors said.

Robertson was convicted in December of one count of conspiracy, one count of theft concerning a federal program, and four counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts.

Former Lieutenant Daniel Griffin, Robertson’s co-conspirator, was sentenced on Friday to five years in federal prison and will pay nearly half a million dollars. Along with Griffin, Robertson and other troopers schemed to steal thousands of dollars in overtime pay from 2015 to 2018, federal prosecutors said.

The troopers involved worked in the Traffic Programs Section at State Police Headquarters in Framingham. They coordinated to arrive late and leave shifts early, prosecutors said, stealing funds from grants meant to improve traffic safety.

During some of the shifts, the troopers were supposed to be monitoring sobriety checkpoints to stop drivers potentially under the influence.

The group of troopers also burned and shredded records to avoid detection, the U.S. Attorney said. Griffin, the superior officer to Robertson, misled his superiors and claimed the forms were inadvertently misplaced, according to prosecutors.

Robertson and Griffin were the only two officers to face federal charges related to the fraud scheme, officials announced in 2020.

Multiple police officers in Massachusetts faced charges related to overtime fraud, including the former Boston police union president, nine Boston police officers, and a Boston police captain.