At least there was no pain in getting caught.
"Stoughton housing chief facing charges; Stole drugs from tenant, police say" by Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff January 04, 2015
STOUGHTON — In the modest brick apartment complex they call home, elderly and disabled residents were reeling at the news Sunday.
The executive director of the Stoughton Housing Authority, whose office is in the building, has been accused of stealing painkillers from a woman in her 90s who lives there. Gregory Bartlett, 57, is due in Stoughton District Court Monday morning to face charges.
“The word is ‘shocked,’ ” said Susan Newton, 64, who also lives in the building. “He did what?”
Residents said the theft had been caught on video. The woman’s daughter, baffled by how quickly she was running out of Vicodin, set up a camera to catch the suspected thief in the act, residents said.
Having heard about the video, many were finding it as hard to dispute the allegations as to believe them.
“Her daughter take photo when she’s not home,” said resident Marie Barros, 86, recounting the news Sunday afternoon. Still, she liked Bartlett, she said, as did many there.
“I have only good things to say about him,” said Elsie Garcia, 69. “He was a gentleman to me.”
The building on Capen Street, still decorated with a Christmas tree Sunday, is home to many elderly Portuguese women, some of whom gather for a weekly prayer group; others are disabled or veterans. Chatting amiably in the hallways, many tenants seem to know one another, but they said they did not know the woman who had allegedly been robbed.
***********
A former maintenance worker for the housing agency, Bartlett was especially good at making repairs and improvements for their building, residents said.
“I thought he was the best one we ever had,” said Robert Trotta, 92. “He was doing good. And then this happened.”
“I’ve been here 20 years; he’s been here 18. He’s been very good to people around here,” said Peter Boudreau, who said a new roof and new windows and other improvements have been installed under Bartlett’s leadership. He even worked for Bartlett for a time, handling security.
“It’s wild,” Boudreau added. “You think you know somebody.”
Ester Barbosa, a home health aide who has been working at the complex for three years, said she had no complaints about Bartlett and considered him someone of “good character.”
“It surprised me. I feel sorry,” she said. “I saw him as good.”
While residents were stunned by the charges, law enforcement officials say they have been seeing a broad increase in prescription drug abuse, as well as heroin use that often spirals from it.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey has launched a countywide program to try to educate residents about prescription drug risks, and police stations in many communities now have drop-off boxes where people can dispose of unused medication. Many young users take their first pain pill out of a relative’s medicine cabinet, according to Morrissey’s office.
What did kids have to do with this, and why can't the government figure out where it is all coming from unless.... they are the ones running the drugs (for their own rea$ons)?
Members of the Stoughton Housing Authority, a state agency that oversees the apartment building, did not return phone calls last night. According to its website, the authority manages 264 subsidized units housing about 500 residents who are elderly, disabled, or income-qualified.
Further details of the charges were not available yesterday but are expected to be revealed in court Monday....
I wrote Globe will stay on this in the margin of my printed copy.
--more--"
"Stoughton housing chief arraigned in drug case; Police say he stole pills from tenant" by Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff January 05, 2015
STOUGHTON – After dozens of her prescription pills went missing over several months, a 90-year-old resident of a public housing complex suspected a thief was creeping into her apartment while she was away at her weekly prayer service and on other occasions.
So, with the help of her son and his girlfriend, Rosalina Bettencourt last week set a trap: They rigged a video camera to record the comings and goings in her tiny, first-floor apartment while she was gone.
When they later watched a Dec. 31 recording of a man walking through Bettencourt’s empty apartment directly to her bottle of prescription painkillers, they quickly identified him to police as Gregory Bart-lett, the Stoughton Housing Authority executive director.
Bettencourt, her son, and his girlfriend “all know Mr. Bartlett well,” a police report says. “They have dealt with him many times due to his position as a manager . . . [Bartlett’s] face is clearly seen on the video system.”
On Monday, Bartlett, 57, a former housing authority maintenance man, pleaded not guilty in Stoughton District Court to charges that he broke into Bettencourt’s apartment and stole her drugs.
Housing chief facing charges
Gregory Bartlett allegedly stole medication from a resident’s unit inside a housing complex under the agency’s control.
Paul Freitas, Bartlett’s lawyer, told Judge Steven Thomas that Bartlett had gone voluntarily to the Stoughton Police Department last week after learning that police wanted to question him.
What, they didn't kick his door down in the dead of night after lobbing in a flash-bang grenade?
“There has been some level of cooperation,” Freitas said, adding that Bartlett is a longtime Stoughton resident and local property owner, and was supported by family members present in court.
Thomas agreed with a request by Freitas that Bartlett be released on $2,500 cash bail.
Bartlett, who was held in custody over the weekend, appeared in the defendant’s dock on Monday wearing a navy blue coat and white shirt. He leaned against a glass partition while agreeing in a barely audible voice to abide by certain conditions while free on bail, including staying away from elderly people, staying away from all housing authority properties, and staying alcohol- and drug-free.
His release on bail was not opposed by Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Peter Kelly.
Outside the courthouse, Freitas declined comment, as did Bartlett family members.
Bettencourt, contacted at her apartment, declined to comment on Monday. Several residents expressed apprehension and concern about the allegations against Bartlett.
*******************
According to a two-page police report filed in court, Bettencourt filled a prescription for 120 Percocet on Dec. 28. Percocet, which contains oxycodone, is an opioid pain medication. Two days later, she determined that 60 pills were missing, a continuation of a monthslong pattern of pills going missing.
On Dec. 31, with the video camera running, Bettencourt left her apartment as she does every Wednesday at 11 a.m., for a prayer group in a meeting room in the four-story brick complex, the police report says.
When she returned to her apartment after about 90 minutes, she found that another 14 pills were missing, the police report says, prompting a review of the recording.
The report says that the video system shows a man coming into the room and going directly to the night stand next to the bed.
“The male never goes anywhere else in the room,” the report says. “The male is observed bending over the night stand and a prescription bottle white cap is seen placed on the bed.”
After a moment standing near the night stand, the man, whose back at that point is turned to the camera, “picks up the white cap presumably putting it back on the night stand in its original location. The male then leaves the apartment but his face is clearly seen on the video system.”
The police report says Bartlett was “very aware of the comings and goings of residents” and was “fully aware of the weekly prayer service.” He had a key to Bettencourt’s apartment, the police report says.
A member of the housing authority staff, which works in an office in the same Capen Street building where Bettencourt lives, declined comment.
Housing board chairman Kevin Wilder did not return a telephone message. Bartlett is paid $70,416 a year, according the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which oversees local housing authorities.
--more--"
