A Massachusetts Turnpike toll taker pleaded guilty today as his trial was set to begin on charges that he pocketed money from motorists amid a seven-moth investigation by State Police and Suffolk County prosecutors, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.
KING CHAN (D.O.B. 3/19/58) of Wellesley admitted to a single count of larceny over $250 and 10 counts of false entry on corporate books for keeping more than $1,000 in tolls he collected between October 2007 and May 2008.
Prosecutors recommended that he serve three months in jail followed by three years of probation, pay full restitution, and perform community service. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano sentenced Chan to three years of probation and ordered him to pay the restitution. Chan will lose his job and his pension as a result of the criminal case, Conley said.
“There are part-time toll takers who make more than first-year prosecutors,” Conley said. “This was a crime of cynical opportunism, not financial need.”
Chan is one of four men to be indicted for larceny from a state tollbooth and the sixth to plead guilty either in Suffolk Superior Court or the Boston Municipal Court. Two additional defendants – JUSTIN RUGGIERO of Bradford and CHEUNG WAN of Randolph are expected in Superior Court later this year, and charges against two others were temporarily withdrawn while prosecutors from Conley’s Special Prosecutions Unit review additional evidence in their cases.
All 10 defendants were charged in June 2008 after what was then the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority learned of evidence that a number of toll takers had been intentionally miscounting or misclassifying vehicles passing through the plazas, collecting the appropriate sum, and then keeping all or a portion of the revenue for themselves.
“This wasn’t pocket change,” Conley said. “This was a public employee who used a state tollbooth as his private slush fund. That behavior won’t be tolerated, especially not at a time when our state agencies need every cent they can make.”
Chan was represented by attorney Paul Anthony.
