Former Revere officer pleads guilty to lying to the FBI
FBI surveillance photo of Todd Randall
According to The Boston Globe, former Revere Police Officer Todd Randall pleaded guilty yesterday to a charge of lying to the FBI. The charge against the officer stemmed from a January, 2010 sting operation in which he was accused of accepting a $200 bribe then lying about it to the FBI when questioned.
Here’s how the Department of Justice described the sting in a press release from earlier this year:
TODD RANDALL, 40, of Revere, was charged in a criminal complaint with providing materially false statements and representations to the FBI regarding an ongoing public corruption investigation.
The complaint alleges that on January 22, 2010, RANDALL, a City of Revere police officer, met with an FBI cooperating witness (CW) and accepted $200 in exchange for RANDALL’s assistance with a criminal case pending in Chelsea District Court. On January 22, FBI agents observed RANDALL, who was on duty, in a police uniform, and operating a marked Revere police cruiser, as he traveled to the home of the CW in Everett. RANDALL was observed and photographed as he exited the police cruiser and entered the home of the CW.
While inside the home of the CW, RANDALL accepted $200 in FBI funds from the CW and then explained the efforts he would make to compromise a pending criminal case in Chelsea District Court for a friend of the CW. The interaction between the CW and RANDALL, including the exchange of $200, was memorialized on film through the use of a concealed audio and video recording device previously installed by the FBI in the home of the CW.
On March 14, 2011, RANDALL was interviewed by the FBI who disclosed that they were investigating information that RANDALL had assisted the CW’s friend with a court case. RANDALL denied knowing the CW or the CW’s friend. Agents then explained to RANDALL that the FBI had received information that RANDALL had been to the CW’s house while operating a police cruiser. RANDALL denied being present at the home of the CW. RANDALL was then asked if he had ever accepted money for a court case from the CW on behalf of a third individual. RANDALL denied accepting any money from the CW. Agents then explained to RANDALL that withholding information or lying to the interviewing agents was a violation of federal law and that he could be prosecuted. RANDALL once again denied ever being present at the CW’s house. Agents then specifically asked RANDALL whether he accepted $200 from the CW for his assistance with a court case. RANDALL again denied accepting money from the CW. Once again, agents explained to RANDALL that lying to the interviewing agents was a federal crime for which he could be prosecuted.
RANDALL replied that he understood and stated, “I have no reason to lie to ya fellas.”
Agents again asked RANDALL if he had ever been present at the Everett home of the CW. RANDALL denied that he had been present at the home of the CW. Agents then asked RANDALL, hypothetically, if the FBI possessed a photo of a uniformed Revere police officer at the Everett home of the CW, could RANDALL be the officer in the photo. RANDALL denied being at the home of the CW and then stated in disbelief that “if there is a photo of me I’d like to see it.”
– “Revere Police Officer Charged with Lying to the FBI,” Department of Justice, April 12, 2011
Randall has not been sentenced yet, but the DOJ’s press release indicates that he “faces up to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.”
