BOSTON - A Boston Police Sergeant Detective agreed to plead guilty today to repeatedly making false statements so that he could fly armed on personal trips and enable a friend to fly with him without being screened by security personnel at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
Bruce E. Smith, 53, of Randolph, agreed to plead guilty to making false statements to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security, as well as unlawfully entering a secure airport area with intent to evade security requirements. In June 2017, Smith was arrested and charged by criminal complaint.
Smith has been employed with the Boston Police Department since 1989 and is currently a Sergeant Detective assigned to District E-13, Jamaica Plain, as a district detective supervisor. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Smith faces a sentence of six months to one year of probation, with the possibility of home confinement. Smith has also agreed to resign from the Boston Police Department and pay a $7,500 fine.
Between May 2011 and April 2017, Smith flew armed on approximately 28 separate trips departing from Logan Airport even though he was not on official business, which is a violation of federal law. On each of those trips, he falsely claimed to have obtained supervisor approval for his travel. On at least two of them, Smith also escorted or attempted to escort a friend through Logan Airport without security screening. Smith falsely claimed that his friend was a “dignitary" under Smith’s official police escort. When questioned by TSA security personnel as to what type of dignitary his friend was, Smith falsely replied, “I am not at liberty to divulge that information." In fact, Smith’s friend, who has a criminal record, is not a dignitary, but a mobile HIV clinic operator.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Boston Police Commissioner William Evans; and Mark Tasky, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, Washington Field Office, made the announcement today. The investigation was conducted jointly by BPD’s Anti-Corruption Division and DHS-OIG. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary R. Hafer of Weinreb’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
