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The Lying masscopguy said there would be no more I-Team reports
-Team: Trooper Fishing On Taxpayers' Dime
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Reporting
Kathy Curran
BOSTON (WBZ) ― A State trooper who claims he is too sick to work is calling in sick to fish and run his side business -- all on taxpayers' dime.
I-team reporter Kathy Curran uncovered how the man of the law is abusing the system.
On the water, Terry Nugent is the captain of his fishing business, Riptide Charters.
On land, he wears the uniform of a trooper for Massachusetts State police, but the I-team discovered on some days when he's supposed to be protecting and serving, he's calling in sick to fish.
"The worse thing of all is when the people cheating are the people who are supposed to protect us from scam artists," said Barbara Anderson with Citizens for Limited Taxations.
Curran logged onto the fishing chatroom "Surftalk" where Trooper Nugent goes by the username Riptide and has written almost 400 posts about his fishing adventures on the waters off the Cape.
On this day, he says "take a day off -- call in sick" because the fishing season is too short. When the I-Team compared days here to his recent payroll records, it found the trooper was taking his own advice.
The I-Team discovered that on May 18, May 25 and June 15 he was out sick and had gone out fishing.
According to his post, on one of those days Trooper Nugent was well enough to run a charter that turned out to be "a killer 1/2 day bass trip."
The day before he was out landing this mahi and hauling in some tuna.
Too sick to show up to work at the Bourne barracks but not to fish.
According to an online post from August 26, 2007, "rippy got a new ride" as in a new boat. The boat was supposed to be delivered the following Wednesday or Thursday. That Wednesday Trooper Nugent called in sick.
"Do you think this is sick time abuse?" Curran asked Jack Greene with Northeastern University.
"I don't think there's any question about it," Greene said.
That's Greene's opinion after looking at Nugent's posts and pay records.
"It creates shortages and overtime," he explained.
Greene is a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern.
"It's supervision, supervision, supervision. The reality is the supervisor should know where his or her direct reports are, and if they're not there, why they're not there," Greene said.
Nugent has taken 30 sick days in the past year and a half. This fishing season eight out of the 11 days he called in sick he was fishing. When the I-Team showed up at Trooper Nugent's house to ask him some questions the "Riptide" was on dry land. After we knocked on the door the shades were pulled.
There is case after case from the beginning of July where Nugent "made the call" for a 14-hour fishing day and made sick calls two days in a row to the middle of the month when "Riptide" was hunting tuna and bailed on work once again.
Barbara Anderson says the citizens of the state who pay Nugent's salary deserve more.
"It's always a problem when someone's cheating," Anderson said. "It's worse when they're cheating on the public dollar."
The I-Team's investigation sparked an internal investigation by State police. In a statement they said they cannot and will not tolerate abuse of any rules or regulations and the department will take appropriate disciplinary action if necessary.
Trooper Nugent is supposed to ask for permission to have a second job. When we asked about that the department had no comment.
State police policy says excessive use, using sick time when the trooper is not sick or a pattern of taking sick days around weekends and holidays are signs of sick leave abuse.
http://wbztv.com/iteam/state.trooper.fishing.2.823298.html
-Team: Trooper Fishing On Taxpayers' Dime
Kathy Curran
BOSTON (WBZ) ― A State trooper who claims he is too sick to work is calling in sick to fish and run his side business -- all on taxpayers' dime.
I-team reporter Kathy Curran uncovered how the man of the law is abusing the system.
On the water, Terry Nugent is the captain of his fishing business, Riptide Charters.
On land, he wears the uniform of a trooper for Massachusetts State police, but the I-team discovered on some days when he's supposed to be protecting and serving, he's calling in sick to fish.
"The worse thing of all is when the people cheating are the people who are supposed to protect us from scam artists," said Barbara Anderson with Citizens for Limited Taxations.
Curran logged onto the fishing chatroom "Surftalk" where Trooper Nugent goes by the username Riptide and has written almost 400 posts about his fishing adventures on the waters off the Cape.
On this day, he says "take a day off -- call in sick" because the fishing season is too short. When the I-Team compared days here to his recent payroll records, it found the trooper was taking his own advice.
The I-Team discovered that on May 18, May 25 and June 15 he was out sick and had gone out fishing.
According to his post, on one of those days Trooper Nugent was well enough to run a charter that turned out to be "a killer 1/2 day bass trip."
The day before he was out landing this mahi and hauling in some tuna.
Too sick to show up to work at the Bourne barracks but not to fish.
According to an online post from August 26, 2007, "rippy got a new ride" as in a new boat. The boat was supposed to be delivered the following Wednesday or Thursday. That Wednesday Trooper Nugent called in sick.
"Do you think this is sick time abuse?" Curran asked Jack Greene with Northeastern University.
"I don't think there's any question about it," Greene said.
That's Greene's opinion after looking at Nugent's posts and pay records.
"It creates shortages and overtime," he explained.
Greene is a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern.
"It's supervision, supervision, supervision. The reality is the supervisor should know where his or her direct reports are, and if they're not there, why they're not there," Greene said.
Nugent has taken 30 sick days in the past year and a half. This fishing season eight out of the 11 days he called in sick he was fishing. When the I-Team showed up at Trooper Nugent's house to ask him some questions the "Riptide" was on dry land. After we knocked on the door the shades were pulled.
There is case after case from the beginning of July where Nugent "made the call" for a 14-hour fishing day and made sick calls two days in a row to the middle of the month when "Riptide" was hunting tuna and bailed on work once again.
Barbara Anderson says the citizens of the state who pay Nugent's salary deserve more.
"It's always a problem when someone's cheating," Anderson said. "It's worse when they're cheating on the public dollar."
The I-Team's investigation sparked an internal investigation by State police. In a statement they said they cannot and will not tolerate abuse of any rules or regulations and the department will take appropriate disciplinary action if necessary.
Trooper Nugent is supposed to ask for permission to have a second job. When we asked about that the department had no comment.
State police policy says excessive use, using sick time when the trooper is not sick or a pattern of taking sick days around weekends and holidays are signs of sick leave abuse.
http://wbztv.com/iteam/state.trooper.fishing.2.823298.html
