ROBERT R. NICHOLS
WESTFIELD – A former Blandford town official was arraigned on a larceny charge in Westfield District Court Thursday for actions he allegedly took while a sitting selectman to line his own pockets.
In a complaint filed at the arraignment Thursday of former Blandford selectman Robert R. Nichols on a larceny charge, Gary E. Fitzgerald of the State Police detective unit assigned to the Hampden County District Attorney’s office details how a $12,150.50 check written to pay for contractual services for the 2011repair of the Hiram Blair Road bridge was deposited to Nichols’ bank account.
Fitzgerald reports that he became aware of the situation when Blandford Police Chief Kevin Hennessey requested assistance from his unit.
Fitzgerald was assigned to investigate and reports that he learned that a town worker had been told that “Nichols was being investigated by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission for performing work as Berkshire Consulting while a selectman.”
The State Police detective spoke with a senior investigator at the commission who confirmed the investigation and “forwarded copies of paperwork that they had received through the course of their investigation.”
Fitzgerald found that a $12,150.50 invoice from “Berkshire Consulting, 57 Main St., Westfield, MA 10185” had been authorized for payment even though the authorization stamp “OK TO PAY BOARD OF SELECTMEN”, with three signature lines, had been signed solely by Nichols.
The minutes of a Dec. 2, 2011, meeting of the Blandford Board of Selectmen include a question which was directed at Nichols who was asked what the Berkshire Consulting did for the Hiram Blair Road bridge project.
Former Blandford selectman Robert R. Nichols has been arraigned a larceny charge reportedly stemming from an apparently fraudulent invoice he authorized for payment during the construction of a new bridge (above) on Hiram Blair Road. (Photo by Carl E. Hartdegen)
Nichols reportedly said that the company completed the contracts for the bridge project.
When asked at the meeting if he was “a part of the company”, Nichols is reported to have replied that “he personally is not a part of Berkshire Consulting at the present time.”
Fitzgerald reports that a town employee was later asked by Nichols to change the IRS reporting form (1099MISC) from his home address to “Legacy Consulting Construction, Berkshire Consulting, 4 MacDonald Avenue, Armonk, NY, 10504” but she refused.
However, Fitzgerald reports, Nichols then went over her head and asked the town’s treasurer, Anne Holiday, to make the change and she apparently obliged him.
Later that year, Fitzgerald found, a Legacy Consulting official contacted the town inquiring about the 1099-MISC form saying “his company never performed work for the Town of Blandford.”
Fitzgerald then asked to meet with Nichols and he agreed to meet with the investigator at the State Police barracks in Russell.
Fitzgerald and Blandford Officer Scott M. King met with Nichols who, after acknowledging that he understood his Miranda rights, said that he knew of the ethics commission investigation into the Berkshire Consulting and “stated he was guilty of taking the check fro $12,150.50 and depositing (it) in his Citizen’s Bank account for personal use.”
Fitzgerald reports when he asked Nichols “if he fabricated the Berkshire Consulting Invoice, the single signature for payment and other questions about the 1099-MISC form, he stated he was Bi-Polar and at the time he was on several medications that affected his memory.
“Nichols stated at the time he and his wife had medical ailments and he may have been broke”, Fitzgerald reports.
Nichols was arraigned before Judge Rita S. Koenigs Thursday in Westfield District Court for a single charge of larceny of property valued more than $250 and was released on his personal recognizance pending a Dec. 13 hearing.
