Pins and Needles
Members of the state Legislature are anxiously awaiting to see who will be criminally indicted in the ongoing Probation Department patronage scandal.
Word out of Boston is that indictments are close and will hit close to home for the Legislature, as two sitting senators and two sitting representatives could face criminal charges. Plus, one former state legislator and 10 outsiders.
Prosecutors are preparing to deliver indictments to employees and state legislators in connection with the agency’s patronage scandal.
Investigators began looking into the department after a November 2010 report published by independent counsel Paul Ware found that patronage was a rampant problem in the Probation Department.
Prosecutors are reportedly focusing on political figures such as Rep. Thomas Petrolati, D-Ludlow. Petrolati is the former third-ranking leader in the House of Representatives, but Speaker Robert DeLeo stripped Petrolati of his leadership position last year in the wake of the scandal.
Former probation commissioner John O’Brien, who resigned a year ago, is also at the center of the investigation. O’Brien has already been indicted on state criminal charges for illegally raising campaign funds from his employees to help his wife get a job with Tim Cahill, the former state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate.
February 7, 2012 at 4:19 pm
I am a victim of John O’Brien. I was a Probation officer for ten years and terminated in 2006 for making a single mistake in my ten year career, others made bigger mistakes that resulted in death, but got to keep their careers.