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Date Posted: 20:43:42 07/04/10 Sun
Author: xxx
Subject: xxx

By Kendra Leigh Miller
Staff writer
Posted Jun 30, 2010 @ 11:08 PM
BERKLEY �

A Plymouth County Grand Jury indicted a Berkley man June 25 on charges of conflict of interest (financial interest), conflict of interest (gratuities), two counts of procurement fraud and three counts of larceny over $250 according to Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Mendes, 50, a lieutenant in the special operations division of the Massachusetts Department of Correction, has been indicted for allegedly using his position as a purchasing agent to steer money for his own financial gain, Coakley said.

�It�s interesting it�s taken about two years to come up with these charges,� said Mendes�s attorney Timothy Burke. �My client has been employed at the DOC for over 20 years. He has cooperated in every aspect. He has an unblemished disciplinary record and no criminal history. We intend to litigate to the fullest defense of the law.�

He said the Commonwealth is relying on testimony of individuals who have been under investigation themselves for improprieties who have now benefited as a result.

�My client is absolutely being made the scapegoat,� Burke said.

Mendes�s s attorney said his client is �extremely well-regarded� within the DOC.

According to a press release issued Wednesday by Coakley�s office, the investigation began in 2007 after allegations that a member of DOC Special Operations Division had been improperly acquiring personal items that were purchased with state funds or credits from state returns including sports equipment, ammunition, firearms, trips and credit cards.

�We allege that Mr. Mendes abused his position of trust within the Department of Corrections to use state funds for his own personal purchases,� Coakley said.

Investigators learned that beginning in 2004, Mendes developed a personal financial relationship with a vendor in the months before it began to bid on, and won, a multi-million dollar statewide contract for firearms, ammunition and related accessories.

Mendes was a member of the five-person public safety procurement management team (PMT) that solicited, reviewed and awarded the contract. He was also the DOC purchasing agent who used the statewide contract to order $250,000 in supplies per year from the vendor.

While he was working for the DOC and on the PMT, he began to accrue a personal credit and a DOC credit with the vendor. Mendes obtained personal credit purportedly by selling ammunition left over from military training programs done at the DOC�s Bridgewater facility.

In exchange, the vendor would write checks to or for Mendes�s benefit, including checks payable to Mendes, his bank and various personal credit cards. These checks totaled more than $80,000.

Mendes used the store credit to purchase items without a DOC purchase order. When he purchased from other stores, Mendes would place orders and pay for items using the vendor�s business credit cards. The value of these credit card purchases would be deducted from the accrued DOC credit.

He used the DOC credit to buy equipment and supplies for both DOC business and his own uses.

�Mendes was the person who could get anybody anything they needed,� the attorney general�s report stated.

He also enjoyed additional personal financial benefits the report states.

Each holiday season from 2004 through 2006 he received more than $200 in gifts from the vendor.

Mendes was arrested at his home without incident by the Massachusetts State Police. He was arraigned that same afternoon in the Greenfield District Court where he pleaded not guilty. He was released on personal recognizance.

A Plymouth County Grand Jury indicted Mendes on June 25. He is on paid administrative leave and is scheduled to be arraigned on July 28 in Brockton Superior Court.

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