Boston Fire Department Clerk Convicted of Perjury and Obstruction of Justice

BOSTON, MA—A Boston woman was convicted today in federal court of perjuring herself and obstructing the grand jury investigation involving the Boston Fire Department.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division, Gregory W. Sullivan, Inspector General, Massachusetts Office of the Inspector General and Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department, announced today that ERICA BOYLAN, age 31, of Boston, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. to one count of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.

At today’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the government’s evidence would have proven that while testifying under oath before a federal grand jury investigating fraud within the Boston Fire Department, BOYLAN, a clerk in the Personnel Department, made material false statements when asked about delaying accidental disability retirement forms.

Judge O’Toole scheduled sentencing for March 16, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. BOYLAN faces up to 10 years' imprisonment on the obstruction charge and five years' imprisonment on the perjury charge, to be followed by three years' supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each count.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Massachusetts Office of Inspector General and the Boston Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.