Press Release  Former DCAMM Employee Robert Gray pays $5,000 Civil Penalty for Violating Conflict of Interest Law

Boston, MA — Robert Gray, a former project engineer for the state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM), has paid a $5,000 civil penalty for violating the conflict of interest law by routinely using his state position to obtain cars DCAMM rented for work purposes for his personal, non-work-related travel. Gray signed a Disposition Agreement in which he admitted to the violations and waived his right to a hearing.

At the time Gray worked for DCAMM, the agency had a flat-rate contract with a car rental company and a policy allowing its employees to use rental cars to travel to and from jobsites. Although the policy specified that rental cars only be used for work purposes, and despite receiving a written warning in 2017 regarding his personal use of rental cars, Gray used his position to frequently obtain rental cars from DCAMM’s finance office for his private use from March 2020 to March 2021. On 85 of the 288 days Gray had a rental car during that period, he did not record any work time. During a weeklong period that included Memorial Day weekend, Gray drove a DCAMM rental car 1,335 miles, despite logging only four days of work. DCAMM estimates the value of Gray’s personal use of rental cars to be more than $6,348, and Gray agreed to have the amount deducted from his accrued vacation time payout upon his retirement.

The conflict of interest law prohibits public employees from using their official positions to obtain valuable unwarranted benefits, and from presenting their public employer with false or fraudulent claims for payments or benefits. Gray violated the conflict of interest law when he used his position to obtain rental cars through DCAMM’s finance office while intending to use the cars for personal purposes.

The Commission encourages public employees to contact the Commission’s Legal Division at 617-371-9500 for free advice if they have any questions regarding how the conflict of interest law may apply to them.

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