Sheriff indicted for allegedly extorting Boston cannabis company

By Mike Toole

Click here for updates on this story

    SUFFOLK COUNTY, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins has been charged with extortion for his alleged dealings with a Boston-based cannabis company.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston said FBI agents arrested Tompkins Friday morning in Florida and brought him to court there. He will be brought back to Boston “at a later date,” the office said in a statement.

Tompkins, 67, allegedly gave the company, which was not identified in the indictment, $50,000 back in November 2020 to buy stock in the business. Prosecutors said Tompkins pressured someone in the company, only identified as Individual A, to sell the stock to him before the company went public.

The sheriff allegedly reminded “Individual A that Tompkins should get Company A stock because Tompkins had helped Company A in its Boston licensing efforts and that Company A would continue to need Tompkins’s help for license renewals,” the indictment stated.

Prosecutors said he paid “approximately $1.73 per share” for the stock before the initial public offering (IPO). The company had a partnership with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, which “would help screen and refer graduates of its re-entry program to apply for work” at the company’s retail store.

When the company launched its IPO in 2021, the stock was worth $9.60 a share, meaning Tompkins’s initial $50,000 investment of 14,417 shares was now worth $138,403.

But, by May of 2022, the value of the stock had dropped so much Tompkins’s investment “was worth several thousand dollars less than the $50,000 he originally invested,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.

“However, Tompkins allegedly demanded a refund of $50,000 and, despite the decrease in the value of Tompkins’s investment, Individual A agreed to Tompkins’s demands for full repayment of $50,000,” the office said.

Tompkins allegedly needed the money to pay for “campaign and personal expenses.” He got the money back in five separate checks from May 2022 to July 2023 “that read ‘loan repayment’ and ‘[company] expense’ to disguise the nature of some of the payments,” prosecutors said.

He’s now charged with two counts of extortion under color of official right.

Tompkins has been Suffolk County Sheriff since 2013. He’s in charge of nearly 1,000 correctional officers and other employees at facilities in Boston at the House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail. He was re-elected to a six-year term in 2022.

“Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding – not self-serving. His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better,” said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley in a statement.

“We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear cut corruption under federal law,” said Ted Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Boston.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office had no comment Friday when contacted by WBZ-TV. WBZ has also reached out to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s office for comment on the indictment but has not heard back yet.

Back in March 2023, Tompkins paid a $12,300 fine for creating a state job for his niece and having employees run his errands.

He also paid a $2,500 fine in 2015 for asking store owners to remove campaign signs for an election opponent.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.