Firefighter files vanish as FBI looks into claims

New investigation begun into possible obstruction

The medical files of three Boston firefighters who claimed career-ending on-the-job injuries disappeared from Boston Fire Department headquarters in recent weeks as federal investigators were pursuing an inquiry into dozens of questionable disability claims, according to two senior public officials.

The possibility that someone removed the files in a bid to hamper the investigation has now spurred a parallel federal investigation of possible theft and attempted obstruction of justice, the officials said.

But if thwarting the federal investigation of disability claims was the motive behind the files' disappearance, the officials added, it was a futile attempt; copies of all the files subpoenaed by federal authorities had already been made and turned over to the FBI.

In response to the disappearance, Boston fire officials have changed the locks on the department's medical office, where the files were kept. They also have preserved 30 days' worth of surveillance video from the headquarters building, according to the officials, who were briefed on the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the incident publicly. Fire officials have also saved sign-in and sign-out data from the headquarters building.

The surveillance video and the entry data are expected to be turned over to the FBI investigators this week, said the officials.

Both the FBI and US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan's office declined to comment.

The federal investigation of firefighter injury claims was prompted by a Globe report in January that 74 percent of Boston firefighter retirements between 2005 and 2007 were based on accidental disability claims, more than twice the rate of similarly sized cities.

The federal investigators have been considering charges of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, two other government officials told the Globe in April.

Fire department spokesman Steve MacDonald confirmed on Friday that the three files are missing, but he declined to say whether department officials think they were stolen.

"We are still actively looking for them," MacDonald said.

The officials declined to reveal the identities of the three firefighters. They said one is retired and collecting an accidental disability pension and the other two are awaiting approval of their accidental disability retirement applications.

Fire officials think the files disappeared within the past five or six weeks, the officials said.

The three firefighters had requested copies of their medical files, and the original records have not been seen since the firefighters picked up the copies, the officials said.

Fire department employees discovered them missing about 10 days ago and conducted an exhaustive search.

"They're nowhere in fire headquarters," one of the officials said.

There was no sign of forced entry into the medical office where the files were kept, the officials said.

MacDonald said the FBI issued grand jury subpoenas for the medical files of all 1,578 firefighters on the department payroll. Fire department personnel spent weeks photocopying the documents at several locations in the headquarters building after receiving the subpoenas.

The headquarters building, on Southampton Street in Roxbury, was under police guard during the copying and until all the documents were turned over to the FBI.

When Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser first requested the police guard in late April, firefighters' union president Edward Kelly objected, saying, "I think, given crime in the city, those police resources could be better allocated. I think the commissioner watches too many movies."Kelly did not return a message left yesterday seeking comment.

After the massive photocopying operation, the files were locked in file cabinets in the medical office, which is also locked at night and on weekends, said the two public officials briefed on their disappearance.

The originals for the three firefighters were removed to make copies at their request, and subsequently disappeared, the officials said.

The medical office is on the first floor of department headquarters, just down a hallway from the building's main reception area. The reception area is under 24-hour video surveillance, and all visitors are required to sign a register.

Samuel Tyler, president of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, a business-funded city watchdog group that has followed the disability scandal closely, said the suspected thefts may have the opposite effect than what might have been intended: They could embolden federal investigators to look even more closely.

"The suspicious disappearance of the files would seem to reaffirm suspicions that some of the injuries being investigated by the US attorney may not have been legitimate," Tyler said.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.