State police lieutenant Griffin sentenced to 5 years in prison for overtime thefts

WORCESTER ― State police Lt. Daniel J. Griffin was sentenced to five years in prison for habitual overtime thefts in U.S. District Court Friday.

Griffin, who was convicted of multiple felonies including overtime theft in December, allegedly orchestrated the theft of more than $130,000 in federal grant funds, hid $700,000 in income from the IRS and fraudulently obtained $170,000 in financial aid from his children's private school.

Jurors found that Griffin and a handful of troopers under his command in a special traffic unit stole federal overtime funds by not working many of the hours they said they did on safety campaigns, notably distracted driving and sobriety checkpoints.

Griffin coordinated with troopers so all of their timesheets aligned, prosecutors said, despite often starting shifts during regular work time and ending hours earlier than they claimed. The fraud collectively amounted to more than $130,000 between 2015 and 2017.

State police last year said internal affairs probes were ongoing into department members potentially implicated in the fraud. One of those troopers, who testified for the prosecution pursuant to an immunity grant, had received nearly $300,000 as of last December while on paid leave since November 2020, state records show.

Federal prosecutors sought a 71-month prison sentence for Griffin, while the defense sought a fraction of that.

Thomas M. Hoopes, lawyer for the defense, argued that the sentence should be “no greater than necessary” and called the situation “catastrophic” for his client.

Insisting that Griffin has done a lot of good, Hoopes asked for leniency, noting that most Troop E defendants escaped jail time, with the longest sentence imposed being only several months.

Hoopes also expressed concern of his client, by virtue of being a former police officer with a knee problem, that he would be in harm’s way in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao said Griffin is a man who had the love and support of the community and his family. He had all the advantages and support that life can give someone and, despite all this, he stole and lied over and over again, Chao said.

“This wasn’t the defendant on his worst day. This was almost every day, stealing and lying as part of his everyday life,” Chao said. “He didn’t have to do it and he did it and he did it again and again.”

Chao said he showed utter and total abuse of his badge and his authority as a state trooper, believing that police are allowed to collect overtime for hours he was credited but clearly didn’t work.

“He took advantage of the badge every single time and he’s trying to do it again for sentencing,” Chao said. “This is the height of arrogance…He shouldn’t be getting credit for stealing so long and so late in life.”

Calling it the “most complicated” case she has ruled over in recent memory, federal Judge Margaret R. Guzman said a state trooper should be held to the oath that they took.

Calling the sentence “appropriate” and “necessary,” Guzman sentenced Griffin to five years in prison.

In addition, Griffin was also ordered to pay $176,700 is fine and nearly $330,000 in restitution. A recommendation from federal prosecutors that the defendant pay an estimated $500,000 in forfeiture was denied by Guzman.

After he serves his prison sentence, Griffin will face 36 months of supervised release.

Griffin is ordered to self-surrender on June 6 unless he is still mending after an impending surgery, which might alter the surrender date.

The only other trooper prosecutors charged in the case, Sgt. William Robertson, who was also convicted in December, is slated to be sentenced after Tuesday. Robertson, prosecutors alleged, ordered another trooper from the unit to destroy records pertaining to the fraud.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State police lieutenant Daniel Griffin sentenced to 5 years in prison