Ex-cop from Hanover convicted of fraud, theft in Boston police overtime scheme

BOSTON – A retired Boston police captain from Hanover was convicted by a federal jury Friday of orchestrating and participating in an overtime fraud scheme at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse, the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

Richard Evans, 65, of was convicted of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds; theft concerning programs receiving federal funds; conspiracy to commit wire fraud; and wire fraud.

Evans was arrested and charged in March 2021.

From May 2012 to March 2016, Evans was the commander of the Boston police Evidence Control Unit, where he was responsible for overseeing the storing, cataloging and retrieving of evidence at the warehouse. A 37-year Boston police veteran and one of the department's highest-ranking officers, Evans was also responsible for approving unit officers’ overtime, which was paid at 1½ times their regular hourly pay.

Beginning almost as soon as he took command of the Evidence Control Unit, Evans submitted and approved overtime slips that grossly inflated the amount of time worked, prosecutors said. Evans submitted hundreds of overtime slips for overtime hours he did not work. As a supervisor, he routinely approved false overtime slips submitted by subordinates.

The standard overtime shift was supposed to be performed from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. However, officers only worked about two hours of that shift.

In the beginning, the officers “split” the overtime shift – half of the officers worked the 4 to 6 p.m. shift, the other half of the officers worked the 6 to 8 p.m. shift, but all of the officers claimed that to have worked the full four-hour shift from 4 to 8 p.m.

By splitting the shift, Evans and officers were paid for twice as much as they actually worked. The split shifts also made it seem like everyone was in the warehouse for the full four-hour shift, thus hiding the overtime theft.

Toward the end of Evans’ tenure, he and other officers stopped splitting the shift and consistently left two or three hours early, as shown in the warehouse alarm records, while still billing for a full four-hour shift, prosecutors said.

Evidence presented at the trial established that Evans misled his superior officers about the overtime scheme. Evans earned over $120,000 in overtime payments in his 3½ years as commander of the evidence unit, on top of his base salary, which exceeded $200,000.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for June 20.

The charge of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $ 250,000. The charge of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud each carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

Three other South Shore residents were also charged with participating in the overtime scheme.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Jury convicts Hanover man of fraud, theft in Boston police OT scheme