BPD cop in Hyde Park overtime scandal gets seven months of home confinement

A federal judge this week sentenced BPD Sgt. William Baxter to seven months of home confinement, followed by 29 months of probation, for putting in for overtime for hours he did not actually work while in a position at the department evidence warehouse in Hyde Park.

Baxter, 63, of Hyde Park, will also have to pay a $20,000 fine and restitution of $9,223 to cover the phantom hours he claimed in 2015 and 2016, the US Attorney's office reports.

Baxter formally pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds in June, 2021; his sentencing was originally scheduled for October of that year, but kept getting postponed until this week.

Baxter was one of 15 BPD warehouse officers charged with overtime fraud at the warehouse on Hyde Park Avenue. Ten were convicted or pleaded guilty, four were acquitted, one died before trial.

Baxter was one of 15 police officers arrested, starting in 2019, in connection with committing overtime fraud at the Boston Police Department’s evidence warehouse, 10 of whom were convicted either by guilty plea or jury verdict. Of the remaining officers charged, four were acquitted in April 2023 and one officer passed away while charges were pending.

Among those who pleaded guilty: Former Boston Police Patrolmen's Association President Thomas Nee, who took a job there after he lost a bid for re-election as union president to Patrick Rose, who turned out to be a child rapist.