BOSTON (WHDH) - Two retired state troopers are facing criminal charges after allegedly taking free guns that they were supposed to be disposing of and accepting free personalized weapons from a prospective vendor, Attorney General Maura Healey’s Office announced.
Former state police Lt. Paul M. Wosny, 50, of Norfolk, and former trooper Michael G. Wilmot, 59, of Sturbridge, will each be arraigned in East Brookfield District Court on a charge of using their official position to obtain an unwarranted privilege, according to Healey’s Office.
At an event in Boston on Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker said the charges are the result of an investigation that was done internally by state police in 2016.
Prosecutors allege that while working at the department’s armory in New Braintree in 2013, they received from Troy Industries Inc. two Trooper Carbine rifles for free — one for Wilmot and one for Wosny — that were customized with their state police ID numbers as the rifles’ serial numbers.
At the time, Troy Industries, of West Springfield, was looking to become a state police vendor.
Then, in 2015, Wosny allegedly decided, without the knowledge or approval of his supervisors, to do an exchange of state police weapons with Jurek Bros., a firearms dealer and state police vendor in Greenfield, for store credit toward the purchase of new weapons.
Wilmot collected about 200 obsolete weapons (rifles, shotguns and handguns) at the armory, and sent them to Jurek after tagging nine weapons, indicating that they were interested in them, and later were given those weapons by Jurek at no cost, prosecutors allege.
Wosny and Wilmot then allegedly submitted false and misleading reports in which they failed to disclose that they had gotten weapons back from Jurek at no charge.
Wosny was transferred out of the armory in September 2015.
In October 2015, prosecutors say Wilmot took from the armory four Colt upper receivers; over 100 high capacity plastic magazines; and approximately 23 Troy upper receivers.
In November 2015, Wilmot and Wosny met at the armory, where Wosny allegedly took three of the Troy upper receivers and Wilmot retained 2 Colt uppers, over 100 high capacity plastic magazines, and 13-15 Troy uppers.
In a statement, state police said, “The conduct as alleged in the complaints and contradicts the standards of conduct demanded by the Department, and since the internal investigation, stricter inventory controls and systems have been implemented in the MSP armory.”
Baker said that the lessons that were learned through the investigation resulted in policy changes to inventory management around firearms, something he called “a good thing.”
“I am glad that the attorney general is moving forward,” he added.
Wilmot is scheduled to be arraigned in East Brookfield District Court on Nov. 1 and Wosny on Dec. 5.
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