BOSTON (WHDH) - Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins smiled as he arrived to court Thursday. His lawyer proclaimed his innocence.
“He’s presumed innocent,” Martin Weinberg said, Defense Attorney. “We’ll be making a statement after the arraignment. He fully intends to go upstairs to plead not guilty.”
Tompkins was twice reelected as the Sheriff of Suffolk County, overseeing two large jails and holding 1,000 prisoners.
Tompkins was arrested in Florida on federal extortion charges two weeks ago, and Thursday was his initial appearance in the case in Boston.
Prosecutors say Tompkins extorted a cannabis company he was working with to sell him $50,000 worth of stock.
The indictment said that Sheriff Tompkins “Later pressed the company to give him the money back after the stock lost much of its value.”
Prosecutors say the company did what Tompkins wanted because they believed he could use his power to hurt their effort to get a license.
In court, Tompkins pleaded not not guilty.
Outside of court, Tompkins let his lawyer do the talking.
“We are going to have a trial,” Weinberg said. “It is my expectation, my strong expectation that about a year from now we’ll be walking out that door and that Mr. Tompkins will be found not guilty.”
Tompkins was released on his own recognizance. Prosecutors asked for no bail, and the judge said she doesn’t consider him to be a flight risk.
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