I-Team: Police Chief Kept Collecting Pension Because Officials Never Reviewed Federal Conviction

BOSTON (CBS) - For more than two decades and nearly $1 million in pension payouts, retirement board officials never reviewed the federal conviction of a former Winthrop police chief, according to documents the I-Team obtained.

Instead, Angelo LaMonica continued to collect his taxpayer-funded pension, despite a state law that strips the retirement benefit from public officials who are convicted of crimes related to their jobs.

As reported last month, the Winthrop Retirement Board voted unanimously to immediately forfeit LaMonica's pension. The decision came after an I-Team inquiry triggered a thorough review of the case.

Winthrop's former police chief abruptly stepped down amid a federal probe in 1995. Prosecutors accused him of taking bribes to ignore illegal gambling activity.

Even though LaMonica admitted to taking the cash payments, his actual guilty plea was for filing false tax returns. So at the time, retirement board officials determined they could not revoke his retirement benefit because the crime was not directly related to his job as police chief.

The I-Team obtained a copy of the Board's recent decision, which indicates LaMonica's conviction, and the ramifications on his taxpayer-funded pension, received two different abbreviated legal reviews: once following the 1995 conviction and again in 2002.

However, the documents indicate neither of those instances included a look at the federal case file.

"On January 26, 2016, the Board reviewed the evidence it had gathered, which for the first time included an actual review of records the United States Court, District of Massachusetts provided, and the Board determined that sufficient evidence existed to proceed with a hearing," read the decision written by Michael Sacco, the Board's legal counsel.

At the February pension forfeiture hearing, LaMonica refused to testify or offer any explanation for the payments he received, according to the Board decision.

Through the federal court documents, the Board concluded the money LaMonica didn't report on his tax returns was directly related to his job.

"LaMonica not only engaged in the very type of criminal behavior he was required by law to prevent, but he used his position as a police officer to shield criminal activity occurring in his jurisdiction and under his watch, and in return he was compensated for looking the other way," Sacco wrote.

Through the end of March, Lamonica had received $964,333.55 in pension payments. The Board will now decide how much of that money it will try to recoup for taxpayers.

LaMonica's attorney previously told the I-Team he plans to appeal the decision.

Ryan Kath can be reached at rkath@cbs.com. You can follow him on Twitter and connect on Facebook.