Former Stoughton detective pleads guilty to lying to FBI agents

Although the 37-year-old former detective was composed during 10 minutes on the witness stand during the change-of-plea hearing, he left the courtroom holding his eyeglasses and brushing away tears. He declined to comment as he walked down a corridor with about a dozen family members and supporters.

His lawyer, Daniel W. O'Malley, of Quincy, said he, too, would not comment until his client's April 8 sentencing hearing.

"I think it's premature for me to say anything," he said.

One supporter who declined to identify himself called Romeiro a "good, honest man."

Romeiro, the latest Stoughton police officer ensnared in a series of scandals that have rocked the department in recent years, faces a maximum of five years in prison. But federal sentencing guidelines recommend that he serve 10 to 16 months in prison, according to Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, who oversees the public corruption prosecution unit. In exchange for Romeiro's cooperation, prosecutors are expected to recommend to US District Court Judge Patti B. Saris that he be sentenced to less than that.

In a bare-bones summary that he presented in court, Kelly said FBI agents spent most of last year investigating allegations of corruption against the Stoughton police department. The cooperating witness told agents that he gave stolen Best Buy and Home Depot gift cards and other merchandise to officers. The officers, in turn, allegedly provided the witness with confidential law enforcement information, including data about motorists from the Registry of Motor Vehicles that the witness used to make phony identification documents.

When the FBI asked Romeiro whether he knew of officers receiving stolen goods and supplying such information, he said no even though he himself had made such exchanges with the witness, Kelly said. The prosecutor did not identify the cooperating witness.