By Keith
Eddingskeddings@eagletribune.com
MIDDLETON — Two
assistant superintendents, a senior corrections officer and a case manager at
the Essex County Sheriff's Department have been suspended as part of an ongoing
investigation into allegations that include improperly accessing criminal
records and filing false time cards.
Sheriff
Department spokesman Maurice Pratt last week offered few details about the
allegations, but the correction officer involved confirmed a report that he is
accused of using a supervisor's password to access an electronic timekeeping
system from a remote location to clock in at the Middleton Correction Facility.
The corrections
officer, Michael Howard, was put on paid leave April 30 and retired a few days
later, ending a 21-year career with the sheriff's department. He would not
comment on the allegations yesterday, except to say that the department
"can say what they want."
Assistant
Superintendent Carrie Keating also is accused in the timekeeping scam and also
was placed on paid leave April 30, Pratt said. She could not be reached
yesterday.
Assistant
Superintendent Kimberly O'Hara and her subordinate, Jason Steiner, a case
manager who counsels inmates about to be released, are accused of misusing an
online database that documents individuals' criminal histories. The database,
called Criminal Offender Record Information, or CORI, is operated by the state
Department of Criminal Justice Information Services. Much of the information it
contains is restricted to law enforcement authorities, including police making
traffic stops. Its use is highly regulated.
O'Hara, a
sheriff's department employee since 1990 and the highest ranking of the four to
be accused, was suspended with Steiner on Friday. The two could not be reached.
Pratt would not
say how long Keating and Howard allegedly filed the false time cards or what
information O'Hara and Steiner allegedly sought from the criminal records
database. Pratt also would not say when the paid suspensions would end or what
each of the four earned. The state Public Records Law dictates that the
salaries of public employees are public information.
O'Hara serves
on the executive board of the Correctional Association of Massachusetts, a
professional association with 400 members, and won an award for mentoring from
the International Association of Women Police a week before she was suspended,
web pages for the two organizations show.
Pratt said the
investigation is continuing but would not say whether it extends beyond O'Hara,
Keating, Steiner and Howard or whether criminal charges might result.
Through Pratt,
County Sheriff Frank Cousins declined to comment on the investigation.