Four Massport workers plead guilty in Logan taxi bribe case

By adamg on Wed, 10/29/2014 - 5:12pm

Four Massport workers admitted today they accepted cash and other items from cab drivers in exchange for letting them move up in the queue for passengers at Logan Airport, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

In exchange for the plea, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Locke ordered each of the four former "cab starters" to pay a $10,000 fine and placed them on two years of probation. He also barred them from trying to get a job with a government agency - or collecting their state pensions.

Kenneth Clement of New Hampshire and Vadim Mkrtychev of West Roxbury pleaded guilty to two counts of accepting an illegal gift, while Michael Garvey of Melrose and Donald Potts pleaded guilty to four counts, according to the DA's office. They were indicted last year.

A fifth worker, James Mulrey, did not plead guilty and faces trial in March, the DA's office reports.

Officials say the five "cab starters" let cabbies who slipped them $20 to $40 jump ahead of other drivers - although in some cases, they were willing to take scratch tickets, cigarettes and other items instead of money.

Topics:

Crime

Free tagging:

Logan Airport

Taxis

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Comments

Why come down so harsh yet

By anon on Wed, 10/29/2014 - 6:17pm.

Why come down so harsh yet let voilent Crimials and other bad criminals off with a wrist slap ????

Did you not read the post?

By basta on Wed, 10/29/2014 - 8:22pm.

Did you not read the post? Or are you actually of the mindset that two years of probation and a fine is stiffer than, say, incarceration?

I'd rather do 30 days instead

By anon on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 2:14am.

I'd rather do 30 days instead of paying 10k and 2 years of probation

Ok... but they probably were

By basta on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 7:09am.

Ok... but they probably were not presented with that option. The original post wasn't "would you rather," it was a complaint that they got hit so hard in comparison with violent criminals. Violent criminals with bad records tend to (not always, but tend to) get years in prison, not 30 days in jail or 2 years probation, with or without a choose your own adventure possibility.

$$$ too

By Gary C on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 8:15am.

They also lost their pensions, which could amount to ten's of thousands of dollars. They got more than a slap on the wrist. This is a good sentence. Putting them in the clink won't serve any helpful purpose.

I agree. The sentence seems

By basta on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 11:59am.

I agree. The sentence seems well-tailored to the crime.

I guess I'm dense

By Scratchie on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 10:38am.

How is this scam supposed to work? Wouldn't the other cabbies notice that these guys are jumping the line and report them?

Instead of going to the taxi

By exMasshole on Thu, 10/30/2014 - 4:59pm.

Instead of going to the taxi pool, waiting 2 hours and then getting a paper ticket to turn into the GTA at the terminal once dispatched, they would just drive to the terminal and instead of handing the paper ticket that they didnt get at the taxi pool, they would hand the graft out the window. This was going on FOREVER and I would to venture to guess that there is no way in hell they caught everyone. Whats worse is those guys get paid an absolute ton of money (well north of $20/hr) The old guy started in the information booth like most of them do and then after about a year or 2 of doing your time there, its off to the parking garage or the taxi racket. some of those guys were there forever (I started at Logan in 95 before moving out of state 2 years ago) Those dumbasses had it made. I only hope they gave them some time in the can, there sould be a bit more of a punishment element not just the financial sanction. If Im not mistaken the old guy retired from TWA/AA before being annointed with a job at Massport. They can all pay their fines fairly easily I would think.

That's how it works.

Let me know when they catch any Uber drivers sharing a profile or doing anything illegal at all.