Source: Office of United States Attorneys
BOSTON – A former Sergeant with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Transit Police Department (Transit Police) was found guilty today by a federal jury in Boston following an eight day trial, of aiding and abetting the filing of a false arrest report regarding another Transit Police Officer’s assault on a man at the Ashmont MBTA Station.
David S. Finnerty, 49, of Rutland, was convicted on one count of aiding and abetting the filing of a false report. In August 2023, Finnerty was indicted by a federal grand jury.
Finnerty was the Transit Police Officer in Charge and the supervisor of Transit Police Officer Dorston Bartlett. At 1:47 a.m. on July 27, 2018, at the Ashmont MBTA station, Bartlett, while acting in his role as an officer, physically assaulted a man without legal justification. Finnerty helped Bartlett draft a false arrest report regarding the incident, with the intent to impede any federal investigation of Bartlett’s unconstitutional use of force.
The charge of false reports provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Kimberly Milka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina E. Barclay and Julien M. Mundele are prosecuting the case.