Massachusetts sheriff arrested on charges of pressuring cannabis company over stock purchase

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BOSTON (AP) — A sheriff in one of Massachusetts' largest counties was charged Friday with allegedly pressuring a Boston-based cannabis firm to sell him stock in the company.

Sheriff Steven Tompkins, 67, who oversees about 1,000 employees in the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, is facing two counts of extortion. He was taken into custody in Florida and had his first appearance there. He will appear in Boston federal court later.

“Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding — not self-serving,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. "His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better.”

No one from the sheriff's department could be reached for comment and an attorney for Tompkins did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the court documents, Tompkins first pressured the unnamed company for stock as it was considering launching an initial public offering in 2020. The company, according to the documents, feared Tomkins could undermine the company's partnership with a sheriff department program that referred released inmates to work there. It feared that could put the company's operating license risk as well as the timing of its initial public offering.

In November, 2020, Tompkins allegedly wired $50,000 from his retirement account to an account controlled by the company to purchase the stock. After the initial public offering, the stock value increased significantly.

But when it began to fall a year later, Tompkins alleged demanded his money back and, despite, the decline in the stock's value, the company gave him a full refund. Among the evidence in the court document was five checks written to Tompkins, with a note they were for a loan repayment.

Tompkins has run afoul of the law before. In 2023, Tompkins paid a fine of $12,300 for violating conflict of interest laws after he created a position in his department for his niece and for asking his subordinates to run personal errands for him.

If found guilty on the extortion charges, Tompkins could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on each count, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.