House calls to deputy jail superintendent’s home raise ethical concerns

House calls for repairs at the private home of the number two person in charge at the Norfolk County Jail allegedly involving public employees are raising ethical concerns. Licensed plumber Mike Ramponi, who retired from the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department in August, fixed a lot of leaks and problems with heat at the jail during his 20-year career, but never was called to one quite like this. Ramponi said it was a request for a repair job from Deputy Superintendent Tom Brady that crossed the line.

He said in October of 2022, Brady asked him to leave his taxpayer funded job at the jail in the middle of his shift for a house call to Brady's Norwood, Massachusetts, home to fix his heat. "I was pulled off shift and went to his house and did a little repair job," Ramponi said. "I didn't feel comfortable leaving and going there but, you know, basically the boss said go do it." The NBC10 Boston Investigators obtained texts from Brady's department-issued cell phone through a public records request.

Those texts showed Brady reaching out to Ramponi and his supervisor multiple times. At one point, Brady asked Ramponi to call him. Then he sent him his home address and the code to his house and told him, "If there's a Lincoln in the driveway, my kid is home.

Thank you. The circulator pump is on top of the dryer." When Ramponi was asked who would be available to respond to problems at the jail while he was at the boss' house, he replied, "No one."

And Ramponi said he wasn't the only Norfolk County Sheriff's Department employee doing work at Brady's house. He said the department electrician and another plumber had also repaired problems there. Brady earns £134,400 a year as deputy superintendent. According to a department press release[1], he rose up through the ranks of the department since starting out as a correctional officer in 1996.

NBC10 Boston's requests for interviews with Brady and Sheriff Patrick McDermott to talk about the work allegedly being done by department staff at Brady's home were declined. When we approached Brady at his home and told him we wanted to ask him some questions, he replied, "Yeah, not today," and told us to have a good day. Ramponi said he felt pressured to do the work for Brady.

"I felt like that if I didn't go there and do it there would be repercussions towards me, you know? He could do anything, change my shift." The NBC10 Boston Investigators shine a light on the secrets public officials want to keep hidden in our "Small Town Secrets" special.

Mary Connaughton is the director of government transparency and chief operating officer for the government watchdog the Pioneer Institute. "If you're asking a subordinate to do work at your home -- not charge, charge less, whatever it might be, it's just not something that's considered ethical conduct," Connaughton said. She added that it doesn't matter from an ethical standpoint whether the work is done while the public employee is on the clock or off.

The state's conflict of interest law prevents the use of public resources for private use and prevents public employees from accepting gifts of £50 or more. The State Ethics Commission has resolved 84 of these cases during the past two years. Seventy-one involved public resources being used for private use and 13 for accepting gifts of £50 or more.

"Something like this simply throws a wrench into the public trust when a plumber is used to turn on the heat at his boss's house on the taxpayer's dollar," Connaughton said. Ramponi said Brady gave him and the electrician each a bottle of wine for their work. "What he's doing is wrong, you know, whether it's peanuts or pennies or hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars.

I would be willing to bet I'm sure there's people in my neighborhood who would like the plumber to come to the house and fix something for free."

A spokesperson for the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department told us they don't comment on personnel matters but said all employees are required to complete ethics training.

Sources have told us the State Ethics Commission had been notified about the work at Brady's home.

References

1. ^ According to a department press release (www.norfolksheriff.com)