A longtime Massachusetts bureaucrat allegedly stole taxpayer money meant for seniors and spent the ill-gotten funds on his own music studio recordings, loads of bourbon steak tips, a fancy lacquered portrait of himself and a Prius, according to federal prosecutors.
Thomas Clasby, ex-director of the Quincy Department of Elder Services, was charged with embezzlement and other crimes for allegedly funneling tens of thousands of dollars in public funds into his “own personal slush fund,” over the course of five years, authorities said Wednesday.
Clasby, 60, of Fitchburg, allegedly used the city’s purchasing mechanism to spend extravagantly on himself starting in 2019 – roughly 20 years into his job as head of elder services, the feds said.
About $8,950 went to a music studio to produce recordings of his singing, another $2,236 for 153 pounds of bourbon steak tips, an additional $4,800 on a Toyota Prius and $1,658 more for a signature, lacquered, framed portrait of Clasby on the taxpayer’s dime, prosecutors said.
He stopped working as elder services director in the Boston suburb last April after he was suspended and then fired the following month, the Patriot News reported.
“Thomas Clasby’s alleged betrayal of trust is not just a theft from the City of Quincy but an affront to the seniors he was sworn to serve and the taxpayers who funded these programs,” United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Joshua Levy said in a statement.
“As Director of Elder Services, Mr. Clasby was entrusted with protecting vulnerable members of his community. Instead, he allegedly used his position to fund personal indulgences.”
Clasby is also accused of scheming to have the Quincy city government pay more than $38,000 to a New York consulting firm owned by a pal even though the company never provided services to the city.
His friend instead cashed the city’s checks and dropped off the cash to Clasby at a Framingham, Mass. rest stop and Bridgeport, Conn. Ferry terminal, the US attorney’s office said.
“Stealing money from programs that are set up to help our seniors is utterly disgraceful,” FBI agent in charge in Boston, Jodi Cohen, said in a statement.
“Today, the FBI arrested Thomas Clasby for allegedly padding his paycheck in a big way, using tens of thousands of dollars belonging to the city’s coffers as his own personal slush fund.”
He is facing charges of embezzlement, mail and wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.
The former city official pleaded not guilty in federal court Wednesday afternoon, NBC 10 Boston reported.
“I don’t have anything to say today,” he told reporters as he walked by them, according to footage from a 7 News reporter.
Clasby could spend decades in prison if convicted on all counts.
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