Middlesex Deputy Sheriff Fined for Violating Conflict-of-Interest Law

A senior deputy sheriff in the Middlesex Sheriff's Office paid a $5,000 fine after admitting to soliciting donations for a campaign fundraiser for then-Sheriff James DiPaola from subordinate office employees during work hours, a violation of the state's conflict of interest law, the State Ethics Commission announced in a press release.

According to a disposition agreement in which Jackson admitted to the violation, the Ethic Commission said, Jackson decided to hold a campaign fundraiser for DiPaola in October 2009 and then solicited Middlesex Sheriff's Office employees, most of whom were his subordinates, at the office during work hours.

The fundraiser was held on Oct. 14, 2009 at Jackson’s home; was attended by 30 people, most of whom were Middlesex Sheriff's Office employees and their spouses; and raised approximately $4,800, the Ethics Commission said in the press release.

Jackson is the fourth Middlesex Sheriff's Office employee in the past year to pay a civil fine for violating the conflict of interest law. In March, a captain and two corrections officers from the Middlesex Sheriff's Office working at the Billerica House of Corrections , after the employees used Sheriff's Office equipment to create lists of the office employees and on state time and within Sheriff's Office facilities, repeatedly solicited fellow employees for donations to DiPaola's campaign.

“Public employees are prohibited by the conflict of interest law from soliciting campaign support or donations from subordinates because of the inherently coercive nature of such solicitations,” Ethics Commission Executive Director Karen L. Nober said in the press release. “Public employees are also prohibited from using public resources for campaign purposes.”

In November 2010, then-Sheriff DiPaola was . He had been under intense scrutiny in the two weeks prior, as reporters and law enforcement officials investigated allegations of ethical and criminal wrongdoing. DiPaola announced on Nov. 23, 2010 he would resign from his office. The announcement was made in advance of a Boston Globe investigation into DiPaola's plans to  while still working as sheriff.

Days later, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced  into alleged campaign finance law violations committed by the embattled sheriff. The allegations were made public by a Fox 25 investigation.

Information from a Massachusetts State Ethics Commission press release and previous Patch articles was used in this report.