Groveland chief's 'honesty' questioned Retirement official doubts officer was full time

By Crystal Bozek
Staff Writer

May 15, 2008 03:36 am

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GROVELAND — Retiring police Chief Ronald Weeks told county retirement officials that a reserve officer worked full time for Groveland for 91/2 years, when the officer actually averaged about six hours a week at times, according to town and county documents.

Weeks submitted a letter to the County Retirement Board on behalf of James Slavit of Haverhill, stating the town has no pay records but vouching that Slavit worked 40 hours a week from 1983 to 1992.

But the county wasn't buying the chief's claim, and W2 forms on file with the town further proved it to be untrue.

In one instance, Weeks said Slavit worked 40 hours a week for half a year, while the W2 records show he earned $204 for that period.

The chief's letter was rejected by a county retirement official who said in a letter to the town that she found the claim hard to believe.

"I am having a great deal of difficulty in believing the honesty of this statement," Lilli Gilligan, chief operating officer for the Essex Regional Retirement Board, wrote about the chief's letter. Her comments came in a memo to Groveland Assistant Town Treasurer Patricia Rogers.

If the letter submitted by Weeks was accepted by county retirement officials, Slavit would have been entitled to buy back the 91/2 years he was supposed to have worked full time at the department to pad his state pension.

Slavit, 46, now an engineer with the Massachusetts Highway Department, would have been able to credit his time as a reserve officer toward his state pension. The more years credited toward a pension, the more lucrative it is.

Repeated attempts this week by The Eagle-Tribune to reach both Weeks and Slavit failed. Weeks is retiring from the chief's job tomorrow after about a decade in that job.

Slavit and Weeks were more than co-workers. In 1985, they were business partners, buying property at 45 Arch St. in Haverhill for $52,900 and selling it about a year later for $102,000, according to documents at the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds.

During Slavit's years with Groveland police, Weeks was the officer in charge of scheduling, according to the chief's letter to county retirement officials.

Town payroll records for three of the years Slavit worked for Groveland contradict what Weeks said in his December letter to the county.

While Weeks' letter states that Slavit made $16,625 from July 1991 to June 1992, a W2 form shows him making only $2,252 in 1991 and $204 in 1992 — a difference of more than $14,000 in total.

In 1990, W2 forms show him making $1,298. The chief's letter said Slavit made about $15,000 during that time.

"The numbers didn't match up," Rogers said. "And we go by the W2 numbers. ... It's a dead issue since we took out (reviewed) the W2's. ... He's not getting anything," she said of Slavit.

Groveland Finance Director Greg Labrecque said Weeks said Slavit gave him the pay numbers and Weeks simply mailed the letter, trusting the former reserve officer gave him valid data.

"The chief said that (Slavit) basically wrote the letter and he sent it," Labrecque said. "You try to be trusting. You assume when people tell you stuff it's true. ... Maybe, the guy thought he did work those hours. Who knows? ... Maybe he was trying to pull a fast one."

Town officials said that Weeks simply did not look up the numbers. But Weeks wrote in his letter that Slavit asked him to compile a department record of his hours.

The chief personally vouched for Slavit's hours and salary in the letter.

"During Mr Slavit's employment as a reserve police officer, I was officer in charge of scheduling and thereby can attest to the average hours worked by him during the above period," Weeks wrote in the letter.

In Weeks' letter, he states that there are no pay or retirement records for the time that Slavit worked for the Groveland force.

"He also stated there were no town records for Mr. Slavit's payroll ... I am having a great deal of difficulty in believing the honesty of this statement because that would mean that Groveland employed a full-time police officer for 9.5 years without ever signing him up for Essex Regional retirement benefits," Gilligan, the county retirement head, wrote in her reply to the town.

Weeks did not return several phone calls left on his office voice mail and with his secretary. He officially retires tomorrow — after 34 years in law enforcement — but his voice mail has been disconnected since Monday.

Slavit did not return numerous phone calls left at his home and with family members. He is still listed on the Groveland Police Department's Web site as a reserve, but while other officers have short biographies posted, Slavit's only says: "Biography to come."