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The former Deputy Superintendent at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) has been arrested and charged in connection with an alleged extortion scheme to force subordinate employees to perform free labor at his residence.
Thomas Brady, 53, of Norwood, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of extortion and three counts of use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion. Brady was arrested this morning and will appear in federal court in Boston later today.
According to the charging documents, from 2021 through May 2023, Brady served as the Assistant Deputy Superintendent (ADS) for Jail Operations at NCSO. Brady was promoted in May 2023 to Deputy Superintendent. It is alleged that, between December 2021 and mid-November 2022, Brady utilized his official position and authority as an ADS to order two NCSO maintenance officers (Maintenance Officers A and B), who were subordinate in position to Brady, to perform home repairs at his residence during and after work hours.
During the first instance, in late 2021, Brady allegedly ordered Maintenance Officer A to install a new showerhead at Brady’s residence. Because of Brady’s position and authority as an ADS at the NCSO, Maintenance Officer A feared that if they refused Brady’s request, Brady would use his official position and authority to negatively affect Maintenance Officer A’s job position at NCSO – including the possibility of causing Maintenance Officer A to lose their preferred shift schedule, position and/or employment at the NCSO.
It is alleged that Maintenance Officer A complied with Brady’s order and Brady drove Maintenance Officer A to his residence to install the showerhead, during NCSO work hours. Brady then allegedly drove Maintenance Officer A back to NCSO to continue their workday.
During the second instance, on or about Feb. 13, 2022, which was a Sunday, Brady allegedly contacted Maintenance Officer A to fix his water heater. It is alleged that Maintenance Officer A was unavailable that day; however, the following morning, Maintenance Officer A allegedly drove to Brady’s residence, instead of going to work at NCSO, to fix Brady’s water heater. Specifically, after arriving at Brady’s residence, Maintenance Officer A allegedly disconnected the existing water heater in Brady’s basement, carried the water heater to their truck and drove the water heater and Brady to Home Depot. There, Brady allegedly purchased a new 50-gallon water heater, which Maintenance Officer A carried to their truck, drove back to Brady’s residence, carried the into Brady’s residence and connected. Afterwards, Maintenance Officer A allegedly drove to NCSO to finish their shift.
It is further alleged that, between October 2022 and mid-November 2022, Brady ordered Maintenance Officer B to his residence to fix the heating system. Because of Brady’s official position and authority as an ADS at the NCSO, Maintenance Officer B allegedly feared that if Maintenance Officer B refused Brady’s request to help fix the heating system, Brady would use his official position and authority to negatively affect Maintenance Officer B’s job position at NCSO – including the possibility of causing Maintenance Officer B to lose their preferred shift schedule, position and/or employment at the NCSO.
Maintenance Officer B allegedly complied with the order, and on or about Oct. 6, 2022, drove to Brady’s residence to troubleshoot his heating system during NCSO work hours.
It is alleged that, after Brady had subsequent problems with his heating system and contacted Maintenance Officer B to replace the circulator pump. On or about Oct. 15, 2022, Maintenance Officer C allegedly learned that Brady was looking for Maintenance Officer B and the two exchanged the following text messages:
On two occasions between Nov. 1, 2022 and Nov. 2, 2022, Maintenance Officer B allegedly returned to Brady’s residence – with Maintenance Officer C assisting – where they drained the hot water system, removed the old circulator pump and installed the new circulator pump
The charge of extortion provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The charge of use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Kimberly Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucy Sun of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
State Ethics Commission Acted Previously
In November of 2024 the State Ethics Commission found reasonable cause to believe Brady had subordinate Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office employees perform free plumbing work at his home.
At that time, the State Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division issued an Order to Show Cause alleging that Thomas Brady, Assistant Deputy Superintendent of Jail Operations at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, violated the conflict of interest law on multiple occasions by having subordinate Sheriff’s Office maintenance department employees perform free plumbing work at his home during and outside of their state work hours.
Like the federal action, the Order to Show Cause alleges that on four occasions in 2021 and 2022, Brady approached Sheriff’s Office plumbers to perform work at his private residence, including replacing a shower head, replacing his water heater, and repairing his boiler. The plumbers performed this private work, mostly during their state work hours. On each of these occasions, Brady neither paid the plumbers for the work at his home nor reimbursed the Sheriff’s Office for the value of the state work time the plumbers used to do this private work. On the fourth occasion, Brady had a Sheriff’s Office plumber and electrician replace his boiler’s circulator pump, which they did outside of their state work hours and for which Brady gave them each a bottle of wine instead of paying them, according to the Order.
Each time Brady approached subordinate Sheriff’s Office employees regarding private work at his home, his request was inherently coercive due to his rank and position, the Order alleges. The Order further alleges that Brady’s actions violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibition against state employees receiving anything of substantial value given to them because of their official position, as well as the law’s prohibition against public employees using or attempting to use their official positions to obtain valuable unwarranted privileges that are not properly available to them.
The Commission is authorized to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the conflict of interest law. It is not clear if that has happened as of yet.
