April 11--HAVERHILL -- Retired firefighter Kevin Thompson has saved his $3,474 monthly pension by admitting he drove city fire trucks without a license and agreeing to pay the Fire Department $5,000.
Haverhill District Court Judge Patricia Dowling approved the plea agreement yesterday and continued the case without a finding for one year. At the end of the year, the charges will be dropped as long as Thompson stays out of trouble, said his attorney Scott Gleason.
Thompson, 54, will be on unsupervised probation during that year and must pay the court $50 per month over the final nine months. Gleason said his client has 90 days to pay the Fire Department the $5,000.
Gleason and Assistant District Attorney John DePaulo said Haverhill officials agreed to the plea deal.
"It took a while, but they agreed, thankfully," Gleason said in a brief interview outside the courtroom. "Now he gets to get on with the rest of his life. It's a fair result for a guy who admitted he made a mistake."
Thompson, who appeared in court with his girlfriend, declined comment.
The plea comes despite Mayor James Fiorentini saying in previous interviews that the city intended to push for a criminal conviction and, if successful, would then ask the Haverhill Retirement Board to revoke Thompson's pension.
"I ordered this investigation to get all the facts and protect the taxpayers of Haverhill," Fiorentini said in a July 2010 interview, after police filed charges against Thompson. "We're going to be aggressive in protecting the taxpayers. If (Thompson) is found guilty, we'll go back to the Retirement Board and ask that his pension be revoked."
Fiorentini did not return phone calls seeking comment for this story.
Yesterday, City Solicitor William Cox said the city did not support the district's attorney decision not to seek a criminal conviction against Thompson, but that the city agreed not to oppose it. He said there's a difference.
"It was the city's intent to send a strong message that this type of behavior won't be tolerated," Cox said of the Thompson case. "We did that by investigating and referring the case to the district attorney. Five thousand (dollars) is a pretty strong penalty for what is usually about a $100 fine."
Cox also said, "The only applicable provision which would allow for the forfeiture of a retirement allowance, in a case such as this, requires a conviction for a criminal offense involving violation of the laws applicable to the employee's office or position."
The city learned Thompson did not have a valid driver's license when officials discovered he had spent four months in a New Hampshire jail in 2010 on driving charges, but continued to get paid during his incarceration by keeping it secret from city officials. He kept his paychecks coming by using vacation and personal time and getting other firefighters to cover his shifts, a investigation by the city showed.
When Thompson was released from jail and returned to work, the city discovered he hadn't had a valid driver's license in at least 18 years.
City officials asked Thompson to report to the police station to answer questions about his incarceration and whether he had ever driven a fire truck without a license, but he then quit his job and filed for retirement benefits, which were quickly approved.
Thompson, who is considered a habitual driving offender in New Hampshire, has not had a valid license in that state since 1992. Massachusetts revoked his license in 1987.
As a result of the city's 2010 investigation, Haverhill police charged Thompson with operating fire apparatus without a driver's license 19 times between March and December 2009.
The court case against Thompson was delayed several times because the city had refused to go along with any resolution that did not include a conviction. At a September 2011 hearing, Thompson admitted he drove fire trucks without a license and offered to pay a $500 fine in exchange for continuing the case without a finding. In exchange, Thompson asked Judge Dowling to avoid a guilty finding that would jeopardize his pension. Dowling refused, so Thompson asked for a jury trial that was to begin in January, but the trial never occurred.
At the September court hearing, DePaulo told Dowling that a guilty finding was an appropriate disposition of the case.
"He mislead city officials and it went on for years and years and years," DePaulo said at that hearing. "The city thought he was on vacation and he was in jail. He drove fire apparatus again and again after his license was revoked."
Thompson lost his New Hampshire license in 1992 after he was convicted of several driving violations, including aggravated driving while intoxicated. New Hampshire labeled Thompson a "habitual offender" in 1992. Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles officials said Thompson was found guilty of drunken driving in 1977.
Gleason countered that Thompson, a lifelong Haverhill resident, spent four years in the Marines and received an honorable discharge. He also was named Haverhill firefighter of the year in 1993.
In court yesterday, Dowling referred to a copy of newspaper story submitted to the court by Gleason that shows Thompson and another firefighter holding a injured baby they rescued from a burning home in 1993. The judge called the plea deal "a reasonable resolution" of the case.
Copyright 2012 - The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
