Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins Photo: Suffolk County Sheriff's Department
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins was indicted on federal extortion charges, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley announced Friday. Tompkins was arrested Friday morning in Florida.
Tompkins is accused of extorting an executive at an unnamed national cannabis company after it had opened a retail dispensary in Boston. In order to fulfill a licensing requirement, the company had partnered with the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department (SCSD), where the department would refer its reentry program graduates to apply for jobs at the company.
Tompkins allegedly pressured the executive to give him stock in the company before it launched an IPO. Federal authorities said the executive "believed and feared Tompkins would use his official position as Sheriff to jeopardize [the company's] partnership with SCSD and thus imperil both the dispensary license...as well as the timing of the IPO."
Authorities said Tompkins invested $50,000, which initially appreciated to more than $130,000. But Tompkins allegedly demanded the executive refund him the money the following year after stock value decreased, which the executive paid in full in five separate checks.
"We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear cut corruption under federal law,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “The citizens of Suffolk County deserve better, not a man who is accused of trading on his position to bankroll his own political and financial future. Public servants must be held to the highest of ethical standards, and those falling short will be rooted out.”
WBZ NewsRadio has reached out to the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department for comment.