Thursday, 4:30 PM
Everett School chief gets 1 year probation and criminal case dismissed
(AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)
Everett schools superintendent Frederick Foresteire, pictured above in March 2004, had a judge today agree to drop a criminal case against him.
By Katheleen Conti, Globe Staff
Everett Schools Superintendent Frederick Foresteire was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay $2,090 in fees today after a Middlesex judge agreed to dismiss a criminal indictment that accused him of using two school air conditioners in his home.
On what was to have been Foresteire's first day on trial, Middlesex Superior Court Judge A. Paul Chernoff continued the case without a finding. Foresteire had been charged with two counts of receiving stolen property.
"As long as there is no incident, as long as there is no criminal conduct, the case is automatically dismissed a year from now," said Foresteire's lawyer, Frank Mondano. "It does not disturb his assertion of innocence."
Foresteire was among 11 people indicted in 2004 by Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly in an investigation of alleged bid-rigging and illegal kickbacks involving school construction and maintenance contracts. Although Foresteire was not suspected in the bid-rigging scheme, prosecutors charged him with using two air conditioners in his home that were purchased with city money and meant to be installed in two schools.
Chernoff rejected a request by the Attorney General's Office to have Foresteire pay a $500 fine and $1,229.58 in restitution for the cost of the two air conditioners, according to Reilly's spokeswoman Beth Stone.
"Mr. Foresteire abused his position of power and the public trust. We are pleased he acknowledged the evidence against him was sufficient for a guilty finding in this case," Stone said in a statement. "We disagree with the judge's decision to not follow our recommendation for a guilty finding and repayment to the City of Everett for the air conditioners that investigators found in Mr. Foresteire's home."
