Another Mass State Police trooper suspended with pay after he was charged with stealing Bobcat excavator
Another statie has been suspended with pay after he was criminally charged for allegedly stealing a Bobcat excavator from a contractor.
Trooper Joseph Franklin is facing felony charges in connection with the alleged larceny in western Massachusetts.
The Mass State Police trooper is accused of stealing a Bobcat T-190 loader after claiming that the contractor didn’t complete the work on his property.
Franklin told Palmer Police that he had paid the contractor $11,000 to clean up trees from a severe thunderstorm. But when the work wasn’t completed, his attorney apparently told him to hold onto the Bobcat as collateral.
“I explained to Franklin that he could not hold onto the property without a court order and that doing so would be considered larceny of the property,” Palmer Sgt. Jeremy Haley wrote in the incident report. “Franklin should know the above information and have a basic understanding of the larceny laws as he graduated from the Massachusetts State Police Academy.
“I know they cover these laws during the classroom portions of the academy as it is required for graduation and I also graduated the State Police Municipal Academy located at the same location as the State Police Academy so I have a understanding of the curriculum,” the police sergeant added.
Haley went on to tell Franklin that he needed to get the Bobcat, threatening that he would petition for a search warrant.
“Franklin kept asking if he was going to be criminally charged and I advised him that my task and purpose at this time is to recover the stolen Bobcat,” the sergeant wrote.
After the threat of a search warrant, Franklin reportedly told the sergeant he would head home from work and get the Bobcat out of his garage.
“Franklin requested officers not activate their body cameras as it would look bad for him to be removing the Bobcat in uniform,” the sergeant wrote. “I advised him that our policy is to activate the camera during police interactions and they would have to have their cameras recording.”
A police officer was waiting near Franklin’s home, but the cop never saw a Mass State Police cruiser drive to the address. Then Franklin called police and said the Bobcat was out of the garage and could be picked up.
Following a clerk magistrate hearing at the start of July, Franklin was charged with larceny over $1,200, and intimidating a witness/juror/police/court official.
A week after that criminal complaint was issued, Franklin was suspended with pay by Mass State Police.
“Trooper Joseph Franklin was suspended with pay on July 9th following a duty status hearing,” a spokesperson for Mass State Police said in a statement.
Franklin last year took home close to $95,000, according to state payroll records. That includes $82,558 in base pay, $8,269 in overtime, and $4,000 in other pay.
As of last week, Franklin’s total pay for this year had been $63,846 — $57,346 in base pay, $4,019 in overtime, and $2,480 in other pay.
A week after his suspension, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in Palmer District Court during his arraignment in mid-July, and he was released on personal recognizance.
Then the Massachusetts POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) Commission suspended his law enforcement certification. The commission cited “evidence that the Respondent engaged or may have engaged in criminal conduct.”
“The Respondent is hereby directed to immediately surrender, and the Respondent’s Agency is directed to collect, without delay, any Agency-issued or government-issued permits, credentials, badges, and equipment associated with service as a law enforcement officer,” the POST Commission wrote, “Including but not limited to: any uniform; firearm; assigned cruiser; flashing, rotating, or oscillating blue lights; and use-of-force instruments, such as a taser or oleoresin capsicum spray.”
This trooper suspension comes after a string of staties have been in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
The Herald recently reported that Trooper Christopher Regan has been suspended with pay after he was seen allegedly pummeling a fellow statie at a Quincy bar. The video of the brawl went viral.
Regan will have a public clerk magistrate hearing in August after the Herald requested it. Those hearings are usually held behind closed doors. However, the Herald requested that Regan’s hearing be public, as he’s a state law enforcement employee and there’s intense interest in the case.
Regan and the fellow statie were both working in the Suffolk DA’s office in the elite SPDU unit, but they were taken off that duty following the incident. Both MSP troopers were reassigned to the Division of Field Services, which is responsible for the state’s roadways.
