Ex-prosecutor accused of selling confidential info and his influence, due to drug addiction
Suffering from “severe financial strain” as a result of an addiction to oxycodone pills, a Massachusetts prosecutor traded confidential information from his office for the drug and took $1,500 from a woman who was trying to get her son’s commercial driving privileges restored, authorities say.
Arraigned Friday in Middlesex Superior Court on charges of receiving unlawful compensation and unlawfully communicating criminal record information, Stephen M. Gilpatric wiped his eyes and pleaded not guilty, reports the Boston Globe (sub. req.). He was released on personal recognizance.
Now 35, he worked for the Middlesex district attorney’s office from 2007 until October of this year, the Boston Herald says.
His lawyer, Melinda Thompson, said Gilpatric is no longer addicted, and called the situation a tragedy, saying that he was an excellent prosecutor. Both she and the state attorney general’s office, which is prosecuting the case, say there is no evidence his drug addiction affected the outcome of any cases he prosecuted or investigated.
Gilpatric is accused of giving a drug supplier a photo of another man and a police report and a Board of Probation record for that man, the AG’s office says, as well as providing a drug ring organizational chart to the same drug supplier.
