Press Release  Former MBTA Employee Pleads Guilty, Sentenced to Jail for Stealing More than $450,000 from Fare Collection Boxes

Boston — A former employee of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) pleaded guilty to stealing more than $450,000 from agency fare collection boxes he was responsible for repairing, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Stephen P. Fagerberg, age 54, of Dedham, pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to two counts of Larceny over $1,200 in a Continuous Scheme. Judge Linda Giles sentenced Fagerberg on Thursday to a two-year split sentence, with six months to serve, balance suspended for two years. Fagerberg will also serve two years of probation with the conditions that he will pay $458,694 in restitution, disclose employment assignments involving public contracts, forfeit financial contributions made to the Mass Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund and report any increases in income.

As an Automated Fare Technician at the MBTA, Fagerberg was responsible for repairing fare collection boxes on MBTA buses in South Boston. The AG’s Office began investigating Fagerberg in April 2018. Following an undercover operation that included planting marked bills in fare collection boxes that Fagerberg serviced, authorities found that the defendant deposited the marked bills into his personal bank account via a drive-up ATM. He was indicted in September 2018.

This matter was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Rontear Farmer, Grand Jury Director, assigned to the Criminal Bureau. The case was investigated by Sallyann Nelligan, Director of AG Healey’s Financial Investigations Division, Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office, and AGO Digital Forensics Laboratory Investigators. The MBTA also provided critical assistance in this case.

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