David Keefe, 57, who once oversaw a barracks of the Massachusetts State Police (“MSP”), pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court on Oct. 6, 2022, to committing fraud on records of overtime. The announcement of his guilty plea and his subsequent sentencing came from the Office of the Massachusetts Att. Gen. and the fraud reportedly cost the agency thousands of dollars. Keefe, formerly of the MSP, was at one time a lieutenant, a supervisor in Troop E, commander of the Weston barracks, and was responsible for both traffic and criminal enforcement along the Massachusetts Turnpike. Keefe, from Norfolk, admitted in court to violating the Public Employee Standards of Conduct and Larceny Over $250. He acknowledged that he had submitted false records of how much overtime he had worked with the agency and received thousands of dollars in pay for time he hadn’t completed.

The specific overtime payments were in connection with a program being carried out by the department in 2015 and 2016, the period during which the fraud occurred. The Accident and Injury Reduction Effort (“AIRE”) program was instituted to boost the number of state police troopers active on the turnpike. The intent was to elevate the presence of law enforcement to decrease the amount of speeding and unsafe driving. Beginning in 2015, Keefe, a ranking officer, began participating in the overtime brought on by the program but sometimes decided not to stay for the whole period or simply not show up to his overtime shift at all. Yet, he repeatedly claimed to have finished those shifts ,which he had not, and to have been present for shifts he had neglected. Overall, between 2015 and 2016, Keefe reportedly amassed a total income of around $412,000. Of that total, roughly $117,000 came from overtime pay, and of that, at least $22,000 was the result of fraudulent claims.

Notably, Keefe was not the only trooper to be caught up in fraud schemes. Two other lieutenants, John Giulino and David Wilson, were also indicted in late 2018 for committing similar fraud against the agency. Giulino was sentenced after pleading guilty in Dec. 2019, and Wilson was sentenced after pleading guilty in Jan. 2020. For his part, Keefe was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, a fine of $20,000, and two years of probation.

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