Superior Court Probation Chief Placed on Administrative Leave

Unanswered questions from Probation Department officials about Christopher Hoffman’s suspension with pay lead to speculation about whether it is an internal matter or linked to a state and federal probe of Probation Department corruption.

 

NORTHAMPTON (Oct. 6, 2011) – The acting chief probation officer for the Hampshire Superior Court here was reportedly escorted from his office in the county courthouse Wednesday and has been placed on administrative leave.

Sources within the Hampshire County Courthouse reported that Christopher J. Hoffman, 39, of Hatfield, was escorted from his third-floor office and ordered to not return.

Efforts to speak with Hoffman through his office or even to leave a message for him there were unsuccessful Wednesday. We also called Hoffman at home, but did not receive a reply in time for this report.

Contacted by Northampton Media for comment, Coria Holland, communications director for Acting Commissioner of Probation Ronald P. Corbett Jr., acknowledged Hoffman was not currently working in his post.

She issued the following statement, in part:

“Christopher Hoffman has been placed on administrative leave with pay. . . .Your other questions pertain to personnel matters that are considered confidential by the Trial Court.”

According to Holland, Hoffman was named acting chief probation officer for the superior court here in December 2009 and earns an annual salary of $73,170.50.

Our “other questions” about why Hoffman was placed on paid leave were rebuffed. Spokeswoman Holland declined to say whether Hoffman was facing internal discipline, or was being investigated by an outside agency. She also declined to answer questions about who escorted Hoffman from the office, about the nature of charges filed or allegations made against Hoffman, and if there was another local, state or federal agency to whom we should direct our questions.

Northampton Media contacted several other agencies, including the Northwestern District Attorney’s office here, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, and the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley; in each case, spokesmen said their office had not filed charges against Hoffman, and that there were no indictments issued against him.

Given the lack of information, folks at the courthouse were abuzz this week about what precipitated Hoffman’s discipline and whether he was ensnarled in the ongoing corruption probe of the state Probation Department. Rumors Thursday were that the FBI was asking questions, although we could not confirm that.

A Contributor to Rep. Tom Petrolati, the “King of Patronage”

This is not the first time that Hoffman, a regular bartender at Joe’s Café here, has been in the press. Several times since last fall, when a scathing report of abuse and corruption in the probation department surfaced, Hoffman’s name has been listed as a contributor to Ludlow State Rep. Thomas M. Petrolati.

Those records show that Hoffman gave Petrolati $100 a year for five years, ending in June of last year, six months after he was appointed acting chief probation officer for the Hampshire Superior Court.

The Boston Globe has reported that Petrolati, the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the state House of Representatives, has since 2002 received twice as many campaign contributions from Probation Department workers as any other legislator. It has been alleged that Petrolati decided who would get Probation Department jobs and promotions, based on political contributions, not merit, thus earning the moniker “king of patronage” for Western Mass. Probation Department jobs.

In a November 2010 report, special prosecutor Paul Ware Jr. alleged that Probation Commissioner John J. O’Brien had “committed pervasive fraud against the Commonwealth” that included payments for hiring and promotions, and rigging the interview process for hiring within the department. Ware said the 12-year corruption of the hiring process was pervasive, and involved legislative pressure.

The probe widened and O’Brien resigned earlier this year; and last month, a Suffolk County grand jury indicted O’Brien on charges that he illegally sponsored a 2005 fundraiser for former state Treasurer Tim Cahill in return for Cahill’s hiring O’Brien’s wife Laurie at the state Lottery Commission (she was hired three months later). Cahill’s former chief of staff was also indicted by Coakley, although Cahill was not.

In a public statement, Coakley said her office’s investigation into corruption within the Probation Department was ongoing.

Reports also indicate that a federal grand jury in Worcester has also been investigating O’Brien.

And last week, the Boston Globe reported that acting Commissioner Corbett has begun handing out suspensions to some senior managers who oversaw the job interview process.  The disciplines, Globe reporters suggested, come as a federal grand jury sits to consider charges against O’Brien and others. Ware’s report said some Probation Department managers may have committed wire fraud by sending emails, using office phones or the U.S. postal service to knowingly aid a corrupt hiring process.

© 2011 Northampton Media

David Reid can be reached at dreid@northamptonmedia.com