State sues three state troopers for overtime they put in for but didn't work

The state Attorney General's office yesterday sued three state troopers for hours the state says they put in for but didn't work, when they were members of the since dishonored and disbanded Troop E, which patrolled the turnpike and Boston Harbor tunnels.

In separate suits filed in Suffolk Superior Court against troopers Mark Augusta, John Wosny and Matthew Sheehan, the state said the three were among the more than two dozen troopers implicated in the overtime scandal between 2015 and 2017.

In July, 2020, the suit says, Augusta agreed to reimburse the state $10,835.06 for overtime and other hours he didn't work, as part of a disciplinary action in which he would be suspended without pay for nine months, starting Sept. 1 of that year, after which the reimbursement would be taken out of his paycheck. But, the state continues, Augusta retired in December, 2020 - with a dishonorable discharge - and never repaid any of the money he agreed to.

Wosny, the state alleges, owes for the nearly 197 overtime hours he got paid for despite not working in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The complaint against him did not state a specific dollar amount for those hours.

Sheehan, the state says, owes for the slightly more than 70 hours of unworked overtime he got paid for in 2016 and 2017.

In all three cases, the state is seeking a trial to prove why the three should be made to pay back the wages - plus any penalties a judge might assess on top of that.