Leah B. Foley United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts | Department of Justice
A former employee of the Stoughton Water Department has been sentenced in federal court for tampering with the town's drinking water supply. Robert J. Bullock, Sr., 60, from Brockton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper to time served (approximately one day) followed by three years of supervised release. The government had recommended a sentence of one year and one day in prison.
Bullock pleaded guilty in March 2025 to a charge of tampering with a water system, following his indictment by a federal grand jury in March 2024. On November 29, 2022, Bullock entered a pumping station and turned off the pump responsible for introducing chlorine into the drinking water, resulting in insufficiently disinfected water entering the system.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge at the Federal Bureau of Investigations' Boston Division; and Kathryn Rivera, Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge at the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division in Boston. The case received assistance from the Massachusetts State Police as well as police departments from Stoughton and Brockton. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Tolkoff prosecuted the case.
