Quincy official spent city money on personal stuff, including 153 lbs. of bourbon steak tips, recordings of him singing to his wife and a Prius for a woman who was not his wife, feds charge

A federal grand jury today indicted Quincy's former director of elder affairs on charges that he used the city purchasing system to buy stuff for his own personal use over a four-year period.

Thomas Clasby Jr., 60, was scheduled for an initial appearance in US District Court in Boston today to formally hear charges of embezzlement, mail and wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property, the US Attorney's office reports.

Among the items Clasby allegedly had city funds disbursed for: $1,823 over two years for a total of 153 pounds of bourbon steak tips; $4,800 in 2023 for a 2005 Prius he gave to a gal pal (and another $1,187.71 to repair some crash damage, which he claimed were repairs to a city owned Ford Ranger, along with $1,25 in towing fees); $8,950 to a Weymouth recording studio and sound technician for 170 hours of recording him "singing songs for his wife and others;" $1,912 for a personal snowblower and $200 for the ramps needed to get the snowblower up into the city-owned truck he used to cart it home; $143 for "clothing embroidered with the logo of Franciscan University" in Steubenville, MO, where he went to school and another $810 for 27 fleece vests embroidered with "Men of Divine Mercy" for members of a religious group he belonged to.

But wait, there's more. The indictment charges he also got the city to pay for $1,658 for a signed, lacquered, mounted and framed self portrait that he planned to give to his wife (the indictment does not say why he wasn't able to); $595 for an electric fryer that he gave to his son and $1,320 to reupholster a love seat.

He also had the city pay roughly $38,000 to a New York consulting firm owned by a pal that "never provided any goods or services to any City department," and for which he forged invoices that not only claimed to be for classes and supplies for Elder Services, but were all below $10,000 to avoid triggering state bidding and requirements and scrutiny by the city procurement office.

In fact, the indictment charges, the friend cashed the checks and then gave most of the cash to Clasby, including at the Framingham rest stop on the Massachusetts Turnpike and a ferry terminal in Bridgeport, CT, allegedly.

He now faces potential prison time of more than 20 years if convicted.

Clasby served as elder-affairs director from 1999 until last April.

Complete indictment (16.1M PDF).