Former jail official is indicted for extortion after making his employees perform humiliating tasks at his home
Thomas Brady, 53, the former Deputy Superintendent for Jail Operations at the Norfolk County Sheriff's Office, was arrested Wednesday and charged with four counts of extortion and three counts of using interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion.
According to charging documents, Brady allegedly ran the scheme between 2021 and May 2023, coercing employees to carry out maintenance work at his home during and after work hours.
One employee was reportedly ordered to install a showerhead and replace a water heater.
Another was tasked with repairing the home's heating system instead of reporting to work.
A third employee replaced a hot water circulator pump - twice, according to the US Attorney's Office for Massachusetts.
All three employees feared retaliation or job-related consequences, including losing their preferred schedule or position, if they refused Brady's demands, NBC Boston reported.
In one instance, an employee told their Deputy Superintendent they were unavailable for work.
The next morning however, instead of reporting to the Sheriff's Office, the employee allegedly went to Brady's home to begin work on the water heater.
That day, the employee reportedly disconnected the existing water heater, loaded it into their truck, and drove Brady and the old unit to Home Depot.
Brady allegedly purchased a new 50-gallon water heater, which the employee then transported back to the residence, installed, and afterward went to the office to finish their shift, according to official documents.
Prosecutors also cited a text message from the employee to another staff member, warning them that Brady was looking for them.
Mike Ramponi, a licensed plumber who worked for the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department before retiring last year, told NBC Boston he was among those Brady directed to leave mid-shift to work on his home.
'I didn't feel comfortable leaving and going there, but you know, basically, the boss said, "Go do it,"' Ramponi said.
Texts obtained by NBC Boston investigators show Ramponi informed his supervisor he was heading to Brady's house.
Brady then sent him the address and door code, and noted the circulator pump that needed replacing was left on top of the dryer.
'I felt like that if I didn't go there and do it, there would be repercussions towards me, you know?' Ramponi said. 'He could do anything … change my shift.'
The State Ethics Commission found that Brady violated conflict of interest laws multiple times by having subordinate employees perform plumbing work at his home during and outside of state work hours.
The commission said Brady neither paid the plumbers nor reimbursed the Sheriff's Office for the value of the state work time spent on the repairs.
Brady was terminated from his position earlier this month, according to NBC Boston.
Brady pleaded not guilty in court and was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. A court date has not yet been scheduled.
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine for the extortion charges.
The charges related to use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion carry a maximum of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, according to the US Attorney's Office.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
‘I'll be back': Arnold Schwarzenegger returns to take on Newsom over gerrymandering in California
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has condemned gerrymandering as 'truly evil' after current office holder Gavin Newsom unveiled his redistricting plan. In retaliation against President Donald Trump 's push for aggressive partisan redistricting in Texas, Newsom said he aims to redraw California's U.S. House maps before the 2026 midterm elections. Now Schwarzenegger, the architect of California's nonpartisan redistricting system, is preparing to campaign against Newsom's partisan gerrymandering proposal. 'He calls gerrymandering evil, and he means that. He thinks it's truly evil for politicians to take power from people,' Schwarzenegger spokesperson Daniel Ketchell told Politico on Monday. 'He's opposed to what Texas is doing, and he's opposed to the idea that California would race to the bottom to do the same thing.' Newsom said Thursday that he was considering asking the state Legislature to place his proposition to alter the map on November's Uniform District Election ballot. 'This is not going to be done in a back room,' Newsom told reporters. 'It's going to be given to the voters for their consideration in a very transparent way, so they know exactly what they're doing.' The move is seen as a response to Texas lawmakers' plan to approve a new congressional map aimed at flipping five Democrat-held districts to Republican control. The Legislature's ongoing special session ground to a halt on Sunday after Texas Democrats fled from their state to Chicago and New York evening to block the redistricting vote. On Monday, Newsom, a Democrat, told reporters that he is ready to fight 'fire with fire.' If the governor secures a two-thirds majority in the state Legislature to place his proposal on the ballot, it could derail a key legacy of Schwarzenegger's seven-year tenure as California's last GOP governor from 2003 to 2011. Schwarzenegger is reportedly preparing to be the face of a 'No' campaign, reuniting many of the forces that came together during his time in office to oppose Newsom's measure if it appears on the ballot. Charles Munger Jr, a GOP donor who funded the push to create the independent commission, wrote on X last month: 'Any attempt to undermine the nonpartisan California Redistricting Commission will be strongly opposed in the courts and at the ballot box.' Munger, the son of Warren Buffett's business partner, was one of the California Republican Party's leading funders during Schwarzenegger's governorship. The 78-year-old Hollywood star led the effort to curb gerrymandering in California, resulting in two successful ballot measures in 2008 and 2010. That pair of constitutional amendments placed an independent commision, not a lawmaker, in charge of drawing California's political map once per decade. After leaving office, Schwarzenegger lobbied other states to adopt nonpartisan systems with mixed results in Michigan, Colorado, Virginia and Ohio. He also filed an amicus brief when the U.S. Supreme Court took up a landmark case on gerrymandering in 2019, arguing that the tactic undermines democracy and voter trust.
The Independent
12 minutes ago
- The Independent
Newsom threatens ‘fire with fire' if Republicans push ahead with redistricting plans in Texas
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to 'fight fire with fire' in response to moves in Texas to redraw the electoral map to favor Republicans. Newsom was speaking as Greg Abbott, his Lone Star State counterpart, ordered the arrest of the 51 state Democratic lawmakers who have left Texas to prevent its House of Representatives voting through the redistricting proposals advantageous to the GOP by denying it a quorum. Speaking of the possibility of the Sunshine State engaging in its own retaliatory redistricting push to weaken Republican-leaning districts, Newsom said: 'The proposal that we're advancing with the legislature has a trigger only if they move forward, to dismantling the protocols that are well-established. 'Would the state of California move forward in kind? Fighting? Yes, fire with fire.' He acknowledged, however, that going ahead with such a step would have to be done within the law, commenting: 'That process has to have the concurrence, the support of two-thirds of the legislature. 'The maps, we believe, should be transparent. They should be provided in a transparent way to the public, and as a consequence, those maps are being processed and will be brought to light.' He also said that California citizens should be given a chance to have their say: 'We will offer them the opportunity to make judgments for themselves, again, only if Texas moves forward. 'I'll reinforce that we believe it should be a national model, independent national redistricting, and it would revert back to its original form, but it's done in response to the existential realities that we're now facing. 'Things have changed, facts have changed, so we must change.' Newsom continued: 'They've triggered this response and we're not going to roll over and we're going to fight fire with fire, but we're going to do so not just punching with the weight of the fourth largest economy, the most populous state in our union, the size of 21 state populations combined. 'We also will punch above our weight in terms of the impact of what we're doing, and I think that should be absorbed by those in the Texas delegation. Whatever they are doing will be neutered here in the state of California, and they will pay that price.' Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have likewise indicated they could be prepared to act in kind if Texas proceeds with its gerrymandering manoeuvre. The desperate measures taken by the Texas Democrats to block the redistricting – which saw them jet out for New York, New Jersey and Illinois on Sunday to stop a vote going ahead – came after the Texas House Select Committee on Congressional Redistricting advanced the GOP's proposals on Saturday. Republicans hold a majority in the Texas House of Representatives, as they do in its Senate, meaning the bid to revise the state's 38 congressional districts would likely pass both chambers and be signed off by Gov. Abbott. Doing so would create five extra right-leaning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., potentially expanding the congressional GOP's majority and easing the passage of President Donald Trump 's future legislative agenda. Faced with that likelihood, the Democrats left town, preventing the 150-seat House being able to hold the vote, which requires at least two-thirds of representatives to be present before it can grind into action. Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu led the exodus and has the support of the Democratic National Committee but he and his colleagues look set to be fined $500 for every day they are absent from the legislature and now face arrest under Abbott's orders after failing to return to Austin in time for a 3pm deadline set by Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Telegraph
13 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Trump to punish banks for dropping customers
Donald Trump is preparing to punish big banks over their alleged discrimination against conservative customers. The White House is drafting an executive order that will impose penalties on financial institutions for dropping customers based on political grounds. A draft of the order, which was seen by the Wall Street Journal, directs regulators to investigate whether any financial institutions breach the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws or consumer financial protection laws. Under the order, which could be signed as early as this week, violators face severe monetary penalties and other disciplinary measures. It also calls on regulators to strike policies that might have contributed to banks dropping certain customers – a practice known as debanking. In the UK, the debanking of Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, by Coutts in the summer of 2023 led to a national scandal. His accounts were closed down after the private bank, which serves the Royal family, decided his views 'do not align with our values' and that he posed a 'reputational risk'. A dossier – which Mr Farage described as a 'Stasi-style surveillance report' – later revealed the bank had cited his Brexit comments, his closeness with Mr Trump and his views on LGBT rights among many reasons he was not 'compatible with Coutts'. NatWest, which owns Coutts, paid Mr Farage an undisclosed sum in March this year to settle the long-running dispute. US banks have been fearful about being the next target of the Trump administration, following his attacks on universities and big law firms. The draft executive order did not name a specific bank, however Mr Trump in January accused the CEOs of JP Morgan Chase and the Bank of America, the largest US banks, of refusing to provide services for conservatives. Both banks denied making banking decisions based on politics. 'Woke capitalism' The criticism of Wall Street giants comes amid growing accusations from conservatives that financial institutions were engaging in 'woke capitalism' and unfairly cutting ties with businesses perceived to be aligned with the political right. Cryptocurrency companies have also said they were shut out of banking services under the Biden administration. Banks have said their decisions are based on financial, legal or reputational risks. In March, the Trump Organisation, which serves as a holding company for most of Mr Trump's business and investments, said it was 'debanked' by Capital One, America's ninth largest bank. The conglomerate sued the bank, alleging it was guilty of 'egregious conduct' by closing more than 300 of its accounts – which it called a 'clear attack on free speech and free enterprise'. The Trump administration is pursuing a broad reform agenda aimed at modifying rules governing financial institutions, including capital requirements, arguing that such action will boost economic growth and unleash innovation.
