Suffolk County sheriff accused of extorting cannabis company to appear in court
The sheriff of Suffolk County is scheduled to appear for an arraignment on Thursday afternoon after federal authorities charged him with using his position to extort a cannabis company executive.
Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, 67, of Boston, is expected to appear for his first appearance at the John Joseph Moakley federal courthouse before Judge M. Page Kelley.
Tompkins was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of extortion under color of official right and arrested in Florida on Aug. 8.
Since his indictment and arrest, it has not yet been publicly announced whether Tompkins intends to step down from his position as sheriff. However, Tompkins did resign from his position on the Board of Trustees for Roxbury Community College.
He sent a formal resignation letter effective Aug. 12 to Gov. Maura Healey, in which he said he "greatly appreciated" his service on the board. Healey said Tompkins "made the right decision by stepping down from the Roxbury Community College Board."
The case against Tompkins involved his interactions with a cannabis company, merely identified in court documents as Company A, that was trying to open a dispensary in Boston in 2019. Tompkins partnered with the company that year to hire graduates of the sheriff department's re-entry program at the cannabis company.
Tompkins was appointed Suffolk County sheriff in 2013, elected as sheriff in a special election the following year and then was elected to successive six-year terms. He oversees around 1,000 correctional officers and other employees who maintain correctional facilities in Boston at the House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail.
Tompkins is accused by federal officials of wielding his power to pressure an executive of the cannabis company for stock from the company just before its initial public offering (IPO). The executive was afraid that if the company didn't give him stock, Tompkins would use his position to put the partnership with the sheriff's department at risk, which would subsequently threaten the new cannabis company's license.
Tompkins used $50,000 of his retirement savings to buy pre-IPO shares at $1.73 a share in November 2020, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. When the company launched in 2021, the stock value was at $9.60 a share, which increased Tompkins' investment value to $138,403.
But when the stock price dropped in May 2022, Tompkins again pressured the executive and company and demanded a full refund of his $50,000 share, which he received through five separate checks, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley earlier this month. Some checks were labeled as "loan repayment" and "company expense" to hide their nature.
Each charge of extortion under color of official right carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
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