Former state trooper convicted of drug charges

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July 12, 2006

DEDHAM, Mass. --A suspended state police sergeant was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of stealing about 13 kilograms of cocaine and other drugs from a department evidence room.

Timothy White was convicted of cocaine trafficking and larceny by a Norfolk Superior Court jury after a 12-day trial and a day and a half of deliberations. He was acquitted of marijuana distribution and conspiracy charges. He was also sentenced to 10 years of probation.

White, 42, was retried after a jury hung on the drug charges last year but found him guilty of assaulting his wife. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years on the assault charge but was credited for time served and did not spend any time behind bars.

White, a 16-year veteran, was assigned to the Narcotics Inspection Unit at the department's Framingham headquarters. State police and the state attorney general's office started investigating allegations of drug thefts and domestic violence against White in February 2003.

White's attorney argued that the unit's shoddy record-keeping made it impossible to prove White's guilt.

White has been suspended without pay. The process to fire him will be set in motion on Thursday, state police Lt. Sharon Costine said.

Prosecutors said White, who at one time served as a department spokesman, teamed up with another man to sell the cocaine.

Investigators recovered about one kilogram of cocaine during a search of White's Stoughton home and a storage unit. Some was destroyed by White's coconspirator, Robert Crisafulli, and some was sold by the two men, authorities said. Crisafulli has pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking.

All the drugs stolen by White were designated for destruction and no investigations were compromised, Costine said. The department has since toughened the rules concerning access to the drug unit and improved inventory control, she said.

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