Howie Carr: Corrupt State Police bleep just never ends
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Joel Rogers walks out of Federal Court after his arraignment Tuesday. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
By HOWIE CARR | howard.carr@medianewsgroup.com | Boston Herald
January 31, 2024 at 5:35 a.m.
January had been shaping up as such a banner month for the Massachusetts State Police.
It was Jan. 30, only a day left, and a mere one trooper – just one! – had been arrested all month. For drunk driving. For the second time in 18 months.
And December hadn’t been that bad either, by MSP criminal-bust standards – just two retired staties had been convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, etc. etc. in federal court.
But yesterday, the MSP’s run of good luck ended – four more crooked stateies arrested, two current and two “retired” troopers. Yet another scandal for the second most corrupt law enforcement agency in the US, after only the FBI.
Comes the recurring question: just how greedy are these corrupt, sticky-fingered bent cops?
Consider Sgt. Gary Cederquist, age 58, of Stoughton. He seems to be the ringleader of this latest crew, whose racket was selling CDL’s.
According to the state comptroller, in 2022 Cederquist made $331,619.29 – on the level! In 2023, as the probe must have been expanding, he pocketed another $182,000.
And behind all these obscenely bloated salaries comes the pension.
Why wasn’t Cederquist happy just feeding at the trough? Why did he have to lick the plate?
Indicted trooper Joel Rogers, age 54, of Bridgewater, made $184,000 in 2022 and $174,000 in 2023.
It’s surprising Cederquist and Rogers didn’t “retire” before the hammer came down. That’s the usual m.o. – I think they teach it in the academy. Put in your papers before you get the target letter from the G-men.
Calvin Butner, 63, of Halifax, went out just 10 months ago, no doubt in a photo finish with the grand jury. He’s now pocketing $71,457 a year, tax free of course.
Perry Mendes, the fourth crooked cop, is also 63. He retired in April 2022 and now pockets $84,927 a year.
And will be, even after his inevitable conviction, just like the guys who were convicted in federal court in Worcester last month. They’re convicted felons, but they just keep grabbing and grabbing and grabbing.
This bleep just never ends. Because the crooked cops all get wrist slaps. Most of the Troop E embezzlers out on the Pike are still collecting huge pensions and living in, where else, Florida.
The first statie arrested this month was Trooper Todd Girouard, busted in Hardwick by the West Brookfield cops for DUI on Jan. 12. He’d been lugged in August 2022, when he was discovered passed out in the driveway of the house he’d previously lived in with his wife and children at 1:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning.
He had an open bottle of Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
Yesterday I pulled the story about his initial arrest off the local paper’s website and saw an update on Girouard’s 2022 pinch:
“Update: In a bench trial before Judge Timothy Bibaud, on May 3, 2023, Girouard was found not guilty of drunk driving.”
Does that judge’s name ring a bell – Bibaud. A former hack in the Worcester County DA’s office whose daughter was at the center of a scandal in 2017 that brought down what was then the entire hierarchy of the MSP.
All these years later, after the staties tried to take care of their fellow hack’s daughter (and were forced to resign in disgrace) Judge Bibaud did the right thing by Trooper Girouard, who has now been arrested again.
How many more of these CDL scandals is the MSP going to be involved in, not to mention regular drivers’ licenses. The hacks have had them in Boston, Brockton and Revere, maybe more.
Back in 1995, the Registry was trying to turn over one of its occasional new leafs. They set up a corrupt Boston Globe columnist (not Kevin Cullen) with an MSP trooper for a drive-around. It ran on a crappy local TV show. Suddenly the cops were deluged with calls from people who knew that this “hero” trooper was as bent as, well, all the rest of them.
This statie, who was part of that particular Registry/MSP PR rehab program, was soon convicted of bribery, conspiracy and filing false reports for payoffs of $20,000 “in a scheme to stamp hundreds of learners’ permits for illegal immigrants so they could receive driver’s licenses and then other legal documents.”
In other words, welfare.
Why do all these state troopers feel the need to steal? You get the badge and viola, you’re a millionaire. Check out the state payroll – other than to the DEI welfare recipients at UMass, the biggest paychecks in the hackerama are going to the State Police.
Let me put it this way: 31 State Police made at least $306,227.82 last year.
The top earner last year was Thomas McCarthy, a detective captain. He made $501,764.97 in 2023.
Second in pay last year was Det. Lt. William Cederquist. He’s in the “motorcycle unit” for $349,059.14. Good jobs at good wages for the Cederquists!
And to repeat, behind that comes the pension.
This latest batch of crooked staties who were arrested yesterday had a favorite word to describe those who paid off and would then get taken care of – “golden.”
As in “the golden handshake.”
Speaking of golden handshakes, let’s go back to the two corrupt staties who pleaded guilty in Worcester last month. Their biggest scam – embezzling federal funds – dated back to 2015. They were indicted in 2020, and allowed to retire with full pensions.
Ex-Lt. Daniel Griffin has since been collecting $10,913 a month – he’s out on “disability.” As I’ve said before, who knew kleptomania was a disability?
His partner in crime, Ex-Sgt. William Robertson has been pocketing $7,992 a month. And even though they’ve pleaded guilty, the checks keep coming.
Even after the crooked state cops are sentenced, their kisses in the mail keep on coming. The proposed revocations go before the State Retirement Board, where they are referred to a hearing officer. Then when the revocation is ordered, the crooks will appeal, and when those appeals are turned down, their spouses will appeal…. as the direct deposits continue, forever.
Meanwhile, some of the state cops who refused to take the dangerous COVID vaccine in 2020 are still unemployed after being fired. But they’re honest, so they’re bleeped. Too bad they can’t sue and get their cases heard by Judge Bibaud.
There’s an old saying: Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
In other words, don’t over-steal. That should be the staties’ “golden” rule. Don’t get over-served, and don’t over-steal.
]This state needs an enema. |
