REMARKS OF SUFFOLK DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANIEL F. CONLEY ON LARCENY AND RELATED CHARGES AGAINST MASSACHUSETTS TURNPIKE AUTHORITY TOLL COLLECTORS June 24, 2008 “Good afternoon. I’m joined today by Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Executive Director Alan LeBovidge, Major Michael Mucci of the Massachusetts State Police Troop E, and Assistant DA Edward Beagan, chief of our Special Prosecutions Unit. “Early this morning, Massachusetts State Police sought felony complaints charging 10 current and former toll collectors for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with larceny and fraudulent record keeping. Summonses were issued by the court ordering each defendant to appear for arraignment in the Central Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department. “Today’s actions are the culmination of a seven-month investigation into these individuals and their activities as toll collectors. It began in late October of 2007 when the new administration at the Turnpike Authority uncovered evidence of an ongoing scheme by a number of toll collectors to steal funds. “Turnpike officials brought their evidence and suspicions to State Police, who undertook extensive surveillance at the toll plazas of the William F. Callahan and Ted Williams Tunnels. The additional evidence they uncovered was brought to my office for further joint investigation, led by the Chief of our Special Prosecutions Unit, Assistant District Attorney Ed Beagan. “Surveillance performed between November 2007 and February of this year shows that these toll collectors used various schemes to miscount or misclassify vehicles passing through the toll plazas, collected the money from drivers, and then kept all or a portion of the toll for themselves. That surveillance was complimented by further investigation by Suffolk prosecutors, who reviewed extensive financial and accounting records that support the allegations. “The most common scheme involved the intentional misclassification of taxi cabs and other commercial vehicles as ordinary cars. As vehicles pass through the tolls, the collector is supposed to hit a switch indicating the type of vehicle passing through and collect the appropriate fare. In most of these instances we’ve charged, toll collectors would classify some of the taxi cabs or other commercial vehicles as ordinary vehicles, but charge the drivers the higher toll rate and pocket the difference. “Another scheme involved toll collectors manipulating the timing switch used to count cars so that two vehicles would be counted as one. Again, the toll was collected from the uncounted vehicle but pocketed by the toll collector. The dollars stolen from the Turnpike by misclassifying or miscounting vehicles could range anywhere from $20 to $150 per toll collector, per shift, and amount to thousands of dollars. “This was the very definition of a violation of the public trust. “As prosecutors, we can only charge what we can prove in court. In this instance, the charges reflect only the criminal activity of these ten individuals during our surveillance. The current leadership at the Turnpike deserves praise for recognizing this hole in its system, alerting law enforcement, and moving quickly to take corrective, system-wide action to prevent further theft. Our task now is to ensure that these defendants are held accountable and that the people of Massachusetts obtain full restitution for these thefts.” Return to the Press Releases page.