State workers indicted in ironwork theft from Longfellow Bridge

(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff/2005)

Three white arrows added to this 2005 photograph point to the stolen trim, which was two-feet wide.

By Globe Staff

The two state employees accused of stealing 2,000 feet of decorative ironwork from the Longfellow Bridge were indicted today by a Middlesex Superior Court grand jury.

The employees from the Department of Conservation and Recreation allegedly sold the metal to a scrap yard for roughly $12,000. The state estimates the ironwork will cost $500,000 to replace. It had been removed from the deteriorating bridge while crews repaired the 100-year-old span over the Charles River.

Richard Stewart, 42, of Saugus, and Joseph Falzone, 43, of Nashua, N.H., were both indicted on four counts of receiving stolen property over $250 and 4 counts of conspiracy to receive stolen property. Stewart was also charged with one count of destruction of a historical monument.

An arraignment has not yet been scheduled in superior court. The men pleaded not guilty when they faced similar felony charges last month in Malden District Court. A lawyer for Falzone asserted that his client never received any money and thought he was merely doing work for Stewart, who was his supervisor at DCR.

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