Page  1 Page 2 Page 3 Community Seniors Police Letters Weather HPTA Source

Since 2003 Hopkinton Online Press^TM "The News Starts Here!" 24 Main Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748 Editor@HopNews.com 508-435-5534 Updated: June 14, 2010 02:21:31 PM

Former DCR Employees Ordered to Pay Restitution For Theft Of Historic, Cast-Iron Coping From Longfellow Bridge Stored In State Facility

WOBURN – June 14, 2010 — Two former Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) employees have been ordered to pay over half a million dollars in restitution for the theft of more than 2000 feet of cast-iron “coping” that had been removed from the Longfellow Bridge and stored in a DCR facility in Stoneham, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public today.

             Richard Stewart, 42, of Saugus, and Joseph Falzone, 43, of Nashua, New Hampshire, were order by Middlesex Superior Court Judge Jane Haggerty to forfeit their state pension money to pay $563,280 in restitution to the Commonwealth. The defendants must pay the remaining balance of $458,216 over the next five years. The defendants were also ordered to submit a financial statement and tax return to the probation department every year to reassess their financial statement. After the five year period, a judge will have the option of either extending probation or discharging the defendants from probation and forgiving the remainder of the debt.

             The defendants pled guilty in Middlesex Superior Court on August 12, 2009 to charges of receiving stolen goods (12 counts) and conspiracy (12 counts). Judge Haggerty had sentenced Stewart and Falzone to 2 years in the House of Corrections with 6 months to serve and 5 years of probation and were informed that they would subject to restitution and community service as part of their probation. The District Attorney’s Office requested that the funds from both defendants’ pensions be used as part of the restitution to the Commonwealth.  Judge Haggerty has now ruled on the matter of restitution.

              “These two defendants abused their positions of access and trust to first steal the extremely valuable, historic material and then sell it for their own personal gain,” District Attorney Leone said. “On behalf of the public, we are pleased with the court’s ruling on our request to have these defendants’ state pensions used to help pay back the Commonwealth for their extremely costly and irreplaceable damage.”  

             “The Retirement Board, in working with the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, fulfilled its duty to taxpayers by forfeiting the pensions of these two individuals so the money could help defray the public cost of this theft,” said Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, the chairman of the state Retirement Board.  "While the historic value of this decorative ironwork cannot be replaced by restitution alone, it is an important step in this case."

              In September 2007, several large cast iron pieces of the historic Longfellow Bridge, which connects Cambridge to Boston, were removed as part of a long term rebuilding of the bridge.  The removed pieces, measuring in total length approximately 3467 linear feet, called decorative “coping,” were built specifically for that bridge.  Each individual section is approximately 7’ long by 2’ wide and weighs 350 pounds.  They were to be refurbished and put back up when the bridge repair reaches completion in 2012. The coping, removed over a week long period in September 2007, was transferred to the DCR yard in Stoneham for safekeeping until its restoration.  The pieces were stacked approximately 15 high along a fence within the Stoneham yard.

              In early September 2008, a DCR employee noticed that a large portion of the stacked coping was missing.  DCR conducted a check which revealed that approximately 2/3 of the removed coping, or 2347 linear feet, was missing.  DCR estimates this to be approximately 357 individual sections weighing approximately 100,000 pounds.

              Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office were contacted on September 4 for reports of larceny of DCR property at its Stoneham Labor Yard.  State Police from the Middlesex District Attorney’s PACT Unit conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the theft. That investigation included interviews with DCR employees, analysis of video surveillance, analysis by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services, and other investigative techniques.

             Based on that investigation, it was determined that a dump truck belonging to DCR, normally used at the Cambridge location, had been observed at the Stoneham yard on multiple occasions. That truck was being utilized by both Stewart and/or Falzone.

             Analysis of tire tracks at the DCR Stoneham location by State Police Crime Scene Services revealed impressions consistent with a DCR bobcat vehicle immediately adjacent to the area from which the coping was removed. Falzone and Stewart have access to the garage where the DCR bobcat is kept.

             Metal fragments were removed from the bed of the DCR truck and forks of the bobcat, all appeared consistent with the metal fragments on the ground in proximity of the remaining pile of decorative coping.

             It was determined that Stewart and Falzone, on numerous weekend dates in July and August, using their access to the DCR Stoneham facility while also utilizing a DCR truck and bobcat, removed the decorative coping and brought the materials to a scrap metal yard in Everett.  They then sold the materials to the scrap yard.

             At the time of the theft, Stewart was the DCR Middlesex Fells District Manager and Falzone was a DCR employee.  The defendants sold the metal, estimated to cost nearly $1 million to replace, to a scrap yard for approximately $12,000.

            Video surveillance captures the DCR truck entering the scrap metal yard on numerous occasions with the coping in the truck and then leaving the yard minutes later empty.

             The original interview with Deputy Commissioner Jack Murray and his staff revealed that the estimated weight of the stolen material was approximately 100,000 pounds.  According to the receipts obtained from the scrap yard, the weight of the cast iron allegedly sold by Stewart and Falzone weighs 91,260 pounds. The pay out on the receipts totals $12,147.00. 

             On September 8, the defendants were arrested and arraigned in Malden District Court. 

             On October 21, they were indicted by a Middlesex Superior Court Grand Jury.  On November 19, they were arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court, where they were ordered held on $7,500 cash bail.

"The News Starts Here!"

24 Main Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748  508.435.5534

Editor@HopNews.com

Last Update for this page:  06/14/2010 02:21:31 PM

IP Trace

All content on this site and linked pages within this domain and affiliate domains are ©2010 Hopkinton News and HopNews.com and may not reproduced in any form without written permission. Learn more.