System failure

In 1997, Quincy's probation department lost its certification. Then the Norfolk County DA began investigating its top officials. More than a year later, the state has failed to take action on either count.

Cityscape by Sarah McNaught

The probation department at the Quincy District Courthouse is supposed to ensure that the system doesn't overlook dangerous criminals, but it seems as if the department itself has somehow slipped through the cracks. Today, the agency functions without state certification, and its two highest-ranking officials have been on paid leave for more than a year. And the state isn't doing anything about it.

In May 1997, the state's then-commissioner of probation, Donald Cochran, revoked the Quincy department's certification, charging improper supervision of high-risk offenders; it was the first time in 13 years the state had revoked a probation department's certification. In July of 1997, only two months after the decertification, Quincy chief of probation Andrew Klein and three other probation officers, including his second in command, Kevin Conlon, were put on administrative leave after the Norfolk County District Attorney began looking into allegations of conflict of interest and misappropriation of funds related to a nonprofit organization that performed mandatory drug and alcohol tests on probationers. The department was embroiled in controversy, with serious questions left unanswered.

Fourteen months later, the department has not been recertified, despite promises at the time that investigators would be back within two to six months to review the department's handling of serious offenders and retest the officers on their knowledge of state probation regulations. Klein and Conlon continue to draw their annual salaries -- $71,685 and $60,345, respectively -- without returning to work, and Klein's role in the drug-testing controversy has yet to be resolved. There is no evidence that anyone is preparing to do anything about the situation -- punish anyone for wrongdoing, clear the names of the innocent, or put the department back on a firm footing. And nobody seems to want to talk about it.

For many years, the Quincy District Court and its probation department enjoyed widespread acclaim. Probation departments in other counties called the Quincy department a national model, citing its strict regulations for managing and monitoring sex offenders and domestic batterers.

"Quincy has for a very long time been held up as having one of the most successful probation departments in the country," says Billy Stuart, a 20-year veteran probation officer from Dorchester District Court. "Other departments with problems have often been advised to look to Quincy for answers."

The Quincy probation department was even the subject of a positive 60 Minutes segment three years ago. "The probation department in Quincy has certainly been touted as one of the best in the state for a very long time," says Nina Flaherty, spokesperson for the Norfolk County DA's office. "They were well known for being extremely strict with repeat offenders."

So then-probation commissioner Donald Cochran was genuinely surprised when a board of state auditors checked into Quincy's probation department and found it wanting.

The state grants certification to a probation department when it is fully staffed and meets state guidelines for such functions as apprehending probationers who violate their orders and monitoring probationers' progress in substance-abuse programs, domestic-abuse counseling, community service, and employment. Individual officers are also tested on their knowledge of state probation procedures.

"These are the minimally acceptable professional criteria for supervising cases," Cochran told the press at the time. But according to state officials, the Quincy department received a score of 79 -- with some officers scoring much lower. The minimum passing score is 85.

More than a year later, the state has failed to check back in on Quincy's probation practices. "We haven't even been approached by the commissioner's office to do recertification," says Judge Mark Coven, who was sent to Quincy by the state to take over the probation department last year.

Asked why the state has not followed up on the certification, Liz Fearnley, spokesperson for state probation commissioner Jack O'Brien, says, "The matter continues to be under investigation. The probation department has no comment." Fearnley also says that no recertification has been scheduled.

The situation with Klein and Conlon has similarly been left in limbo. Cochran put them and two other officials on paid administrative leave last July pending the results of a county investigation into their relationship with Citizens for Better Community Courts Inc. (CBCC), a 20-year-old nonprofit corporation under contract with the department to
administer drug and alcohol tests to criminals on probation. That investigation began in May 1997, after Norfolk County DA Jeffrey Locke received complaints that the officers' connection to CBCC -- Klein was the treasurer and Conlon the president -- amounted to violations of their job descriptions and conflicts of interest.

In addition to investigating the propriety of the officials' relationship with CBCC, the DA's office also looked into how much money the corporation took in from the urine tests and how it was spent. The court collected $5 per test, and statistics showed that regular testing was required for 1200 probationers, with an average of 520 tests a week. Yet Klein, although he was CBCC's treasurer, was unable to account for most of the funds. CBCC, which had its nonprofit status revoked in 1986 after failing to file its annual financial reports with the state, was found to have spent some of the money on an office Christmas party, employee parking, trips, and other unofficial expenses. The Quincy court is no longer using CBCC to do its drug and alcohol testing.

A year after the officials were suspended, Klein and Conlon are still on leave and still being paid. The two other probation officers under investigation were returned to their positions in November 1997, and Conlon has been cleared by the DA's office. "We are confident that there will be no criminal process against Mr. Conlon," wrote Norfolk County Assistant DA Dennis Mahoney in an April 13 letter recommending Conlon's reinstatement.

"Mr. Conlon really wants to get back to work, and he has been cleared of any allegations," says Conlon's attorney, George McMahon, expressing his frustration with the state commissioner's office for not reinstating Conlon. "It's up to the commissioner to make that choice, but he hasn't done anything."

Klein is now the only officer who remains under investigation. Thomas Kiley, Klein's attorney, confirms that Klein retains the chief probation officer title, despite not having "set foot inside the building since July 1," 1997, and reports that Klein is on |vacation and cannot be reached. "What I will say is, Andy's been very cooperative because he's proud of his work," he says.

Asked about the DA's focus on Klein, Kiley responds, "Andy hasn't been charged with anything and, frankly, I don't believe he will be."

The last anyone heard of the investigation into Klein and Conlon's activities was last June, when members of the DA's white-collar crime division confiscated checkbooks and computer files from Klein in an effort to trace the use of the drug-test money.

The DA's office has admitted that the investigation is still pending and declined further comment, as did the state probation commissioner's office.

Meanwhile, about 550 probationers -- some diligent, some lax -- continue to contact their officers at the Quincy probation department every day. None of them realize that they are trying to pass muster with an organization whose officials cannot pass muster themselves.

Sarah McNaught can be reached at smcnaught[a]phx.com.