Probation officer charged with lying to FBI
Federal prosecutors have offered scant details on a Massachusetts probation officer who agreed to resign his position after allegedly lying to the FBI in connection with a public corruption investigation.
Lawrence Plumer allegedly made a false statement on or about July 10, according to a one-page information filed in federal court.
In 2014, federal prosecutors convicted former Probation Commissioner John O'Brien and two of his former deputies for secretly rigging the hiring and promotion system to favor politically connected applicants. The trial featured current and former lawmakers taking the stand and led to a war of words between House Speaker Robert DeLeo and U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz.
The assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting Plumer, Robert Fisher, was one of the prosecutors in last year's probation trial.
Just after 5 p.m. on Friday, Ortiz's office announced that Plumer, 46, of Brockton, had been charged with making a false statement and had agreed in a plea agreement to resign from the department where he has worked since 2000. No other information has been made available from the U.S. Attorney's office.
According to state spending records, Plumer held the rank of probation officer. Probation officers serve on the front lines of the state's justice system, monitoring criminal defendants and serving in mediation roles within family courts.
In March, The Boston Globe, citing anonymous sources, reported that federal prosecutors were pressuring O'Brien, who has appealed his conviction, to provide testimony in a new probe likely to focus on politicians involved in the scheme.
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