An official with the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department allegedly violated state conflict of interest laws when he had employees perform plumbing work at his home during work hours, for free, according to the State Ethics Commission, which is now calling for a hearing on the matter.
Last year, the NBC10 Investigators looked into the ethical concerns surrounding Assistant Deputy Superintendent Tom Brady.
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Mike Ramponi, who worked as a licensed plumber for the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department before retiring last year, said Brady asked him to leave his taxpayer-funded job in the middle of his shift to fix the heat at Brady’s Norwood home.
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“I didn’t feel comfortable leaving and going there but you know basically the boss said go do it," Ramponi told NBC10 Boston.
Texts obtained by the NBC10 Investigators show Ramponi alerted his supervisor that he was heading to Brady’s house to the work – and that Brady sent Ramponi the address and code to his house, then tells him he left the circulator pump that needed to be replaced 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? He could do anything...change my shift," Ramponi said.
Investigations
The State Ethics Commission looked into these allegations and found that Brady violated the conflict of interest law on multiple occasions by having subordinate sheriff department employees perform plumbing work at his home during and outside of their state work hours.
They say Brady neither paid the plumbers for replacing the shower head and water heater in his home – nor did he reimburse the sheriff’s office for the value of the state work time the plumbers used, to do this work.
The state’s conflict of interest law prevents the use of public resources for private use and prevents public employees from accepting gifts of $50 or more.
“Something like this simply throws a wrench into the public trust," said Mary Connaughton, director of government transparency and COO. for the government watchdog the Pioneer Institute.
“It actually doesn’t matter from an ethical standpoint whether it’s on the clock or off the clock. If it’s on the clock it’s worse though because then they’re using public dollars.”
The state says Brady did give the plumber and electrician who did that free work a bottle of wine each.
NBC10 Boston reached out to Brady but did not hear back.
A spokesperson for the sheriff's department said they don't comment on personnel matters.
The ethics commission will schedule a public hearing on the case within 90 days. Brady could face a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the conflict of interest law.
