Former Massachusetts State Police Trooper sentenced to prison in overtime scheme

According to the Department of Justice in Boston, from 2015 through 2018, 60-year-old Daniel Griffin of Belmont of the Traffic Programs Section at State Police Headquarters in Framingham conspired to steal thousands of dollars in federally funded overtime by regularly arriving late to and leaving early from, overtime shifts funded by grants intended to improve traffic safety.

Griffin ran his security business Knight Protection Services, during hours that he was collecting regular and overtime pay from the Massachusetts State Police. It was also stated in court documents that he hid over $700,000 in revenue from the IRS.

During the investigation in 2017 and 2018, it was alleged that Griffin told Troopers to cover up fraud and ordered records to be burned or shredded.

He pleaded guilty in November 2023 to four additional counts of wire fraud and 11 counts of filing false tax returns in connection with defrauding a private school attended by two of his children from at least 2016 to 2019 by concealing his income and obtaining over $175,000 in financial aid.

Griffin was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. Griffin was also ordered to pay restitution of $329,163, a fine of $176,700, and a $2,100 special assessment.