Dana Pullman
The former president of the Massachusetts State Police troopers' union was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for accepting kickbacks from a lobbyist and for using a union debit card for personal expenses, including meals and travel.
Dana Pullman, 61, a state trooper since 1987 who served as president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts from 2012 until his resignation in 2018, was also sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay restitution, according to federal prosecutors in Boston.
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The lobbyist, Anne Lynch, 71, was sentenced to two years in prison, two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution.
"Mr. Pullman was elected to represent the members of his union and put their interests above everything else," U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement. "He violated that trust when he and Ms. Lynch chose to pursue their own greedy and unlawful financial gain."
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Lynch paid Pullman a $20,000 kickback in connection with a settlement agreement between the union and the state, prosecutors said. They also defrauded two companies that sought to do business with the state police by hiding the fact that Lynch was paying Pullman to direct vendors to use Lynch's services, authorities said. They then hid the payments to avoid reporting and paying taxes on that income.
Pullman also embezzled union funds by using a debit card tied to a union bank account to pay for thousands of dollars worth of meals and travel for himself and his girlfriend to Florida.
The union represents more than 1,500 troopers and sergeants.
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Their attorneys, citing their clients' health concerns, had sought more lenient sentences -- a year of home confinement for Pullman and probation and community service for Lynch.
Pullman and Lynch were convicted in November of racketeering, wire fraud, obstruction of justice and tax fraud crimes. They were charged in August 2019 and indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2019.
