By Evereth Woodruff 
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has become the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s worst nightmare.
Foley nabbed yet another powerful Democratic elected official on Friday, indicting longtime Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins for extorting a Boston cannabis company executive.
Tompkins, who has loomed large on the Boston political scene, allegedly demanded a $50,000 “pre-equity interest” in the cannabis company right before it went public with an IPO, according to Foley’s office.
“His alleged actions are an affront to taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department,” Foley said in a statement.
Tompkins is the most prominent Democrat in a string of indictments that Foley has secured this year, including Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson on a bribery charge and state Rep. Chris Flanagan on wire fraud.
Anderson eventually resigned in disgrace and is awaiting sentencing. Flanagan is still holding on to his seat in the Legislature.
Foley has single-handedly done more damage to the state Democratic Party than the feeble Massachusetts Republican Party.
She has been a breath of fresh air in this politically corrupt state, doing the job because few have the guts to take on the powerful Democratic establishment.
“Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain,” Foley said.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell has been a no-show when it comes to prosecuting political corruption, choosing instead to issue frivolous lawsuits against President Donald Trump.
The Tompkins case exposes the continued culture of corruption in Massachusetts politics. It also exposes the corrupt cannabis industry, where a number of politicians have tried to cash in on the lucrative business.
Tompkins’ predecessor in the Sheriff’s office, Andrea Cabral, left to become a top executive for a Boston area cannabis company, Ascend Cannabis, which looms as a likely player in the Tompkins case.
The indictment charges that Tompkins tried to bully a cannabis executive to give him the early $50,000 equity stake in exchange for cooperating in a program the Suffolk Sheriff’s office was participating in with the company. The company was hiring ex-cons from jail to work for the cannabis firm.
The indictment never names the cannabis company or executive, but according to a 2018 story in the Boston Globe, Cabral’s company “plans to work directly with the Suffolk County Sheriff to hire people recently released from jail as workers at its facilities.”
Cabral and Tompkins were also college classmates and close friends, according to the story.
Tompkins “is downright enthusiastic about the partnership,” the fawning Globe story went on to say.
“We’re a nation of second chances, or at least that’s what they used to tell us,” Tompkins was quoted as saying. “If someone who hasn’t had good opportunities in life can catch on and make a decent living? It’s awesome. There’s no squeamishness on my part at all.”
Now we know just why Tompkins wasn’t so “squeamish.” He was allegedly planning to make a pile of cash on the deal as well.
The scheme Tompkins allegedly came up with to enrich himself never paid off, however.
The company’s stock took a downturn after a few years, and Tompkins allegedly came crawling back to the Cannabis executive to give him back the money he had lost, the indictment charges.
The executive paid back Tompkins the 50 grand in installments, according to the feds.
What a pathetic way to end your political career and wind up possibly heading to prison.
It’s probably fitting that when the feds caught Tompkins, he was nowhere near doing his job in Massachusetts – they found him in Florida, escaping the local perp walk. But don’t worry, he’ll get his day in court in Boston soon.
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