Investigated fire chief drops disability claim

Witnesses had recanted their injury statements

A Boston fire chief who has been on injured leave for nearly two years awaiting approval of his disability retirement claim abruptly withdrew the application this week after two witnesses recanted their initial statements about his injury, according to two senior public officials.

The unusual withdrawal follows the recent disappearance of the chief's medical file from department headquarters as federal investigators were pursuing an inquiry into dozens of questionable injury claims, including his, the officials said.

James J. Famolare was the Boston Fire Department's district chief of administration when he reported injuring his back while moving a box at fire headquarters in June 2006, records show. Famolare filed an application for disability retirement four months later, and the two witnesses signed it, the officials said.

But when fire officials reviewing Famolare's case in recent weeks asked the witnesses what they saw, they said they did not see anything but merely placed their signatures on a narrative the chief had written and asked them to endorse, said the officials, who were briefed on the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Famolare did not return messages left yesterday at a number listed for him in Billerica, and no one answered the telephone at another residence listed as his in Canterbury, N.H.

Fire officials were preparing to ask the Boston Retirement Board to deny the chief's disability pension application at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday when Famolare notified the board that he no longer wanted a disability retirement and applied for a regular pension instead, the officials said.

From the time of the reported injury until he withdrew his application, Famolare collected roughly $300,000 in tax-free injured-leave pay, records show. It was unclear whether the city will try to recoup the injury pay collected by Famolare or whether he or the witnesses will face further department investigation.

In his letter to the Boston Retirement Board, Famolare said he was withdrawing his disability claim because he did not believe he could get a fair hearing, one of the officials said.

Kathleen Kiely-Becchetti, acting executive officer of the Retirement Board, declined to comment yesterday, saying federal authorities have barred her from speaking publicly about cases within the purview of the federal probe.

The US attorney's office launched the probe of questionable injury claims after a Globe report in January found that 74 percent of Boston firefighter retirements between 2005 and 2007 were due to accidental disability, more than twice the rate of similarly sized cities. Federal authorities launched a parallel investigation last month after the medical files of three firefighters who had applied for disability pensions, including Famolare, went missing from Fire Department headquarters.

The Globe also reported earlier this year that dozens of firefighter disability retirement applications, including Famolare's, languished for months at the Boston Retirement Board while the applicants collected tens of thousands of dollars in tax-free injury-leave pay. Firefighters are paid 100 percent of their salary tax-free while their disability claims are pending; if approved, they receive 72 percent of their salary, also tax-free.

Kiely-Becchetti's predecessor, Robert E. Tierney, stepped down last week from his post overseeing day-to-day operations of the board amid complaints about the massive backlog of cases. The resignation followed a flurry of news reports about former Boston firefighter Albert Arroyo, who competed in a bodybuilding competition when he was out on injured leave and awaiting approval of a disability pension application from the board.

Kiely-Becchetti said yesterday that since taking over the Retirement Board office on Aug. 4, she has taken steps to eliminate the backlog in application processing by immediately scheduling more than a dozen hearings on pending cases. She also said the board is planning to hire a forensic accountant to review past cases in an attempt to find potentially fraudulent claims. Those cases could then be reopened and the firefighters' pensions rescinded if evidence is uncovered that proves the injuries were faked or not suffered in the line of duty.

"The board is currently reviewing the entire disability process," Kiely-Becchetti said. "We expect that review to highlight deficiencies which we will address with expedient remedial measures."

During the past five years, 167 Boston firefighters were granted disability pensions based on reported career-ending on-the-job injuries. Nearly two-thirds of those claims involved orthopedic afflictions, with 92 of them reporting injuries to their knees, shoulders, and backs, and another 16 reporting injuries to their hands, arms, hips, and necks, according to city data obtained through a public records request. Forty-seven other claims involved heart problems or cancer.

At the Boston Fire Department, which reviews injury claims that have been submitted to the board, officials have been going back over past claims and asking witnesses to recount the injuries they saw.

They recently called in the two firefighters who signed Famolare's disability application indicating they had witnessed the district chief moving the box and injuring his back on June 19, 2006.

The firefighters both said they could no longer vouch for Famolare and signed new written statements saying they did not witness the injury, the public officials briefed on the case said.

A Fire Department employee who spoke with one of the witnesses this week said the firefighter signed the application because Famolare asked him to.

"He said, 'You're not going to say no when a chief asks you to do something,' " said the employee, who spoke on condition of anon-ymity for fear of retribution from superiors. "He had to recant, he had to change it, because he didn't physically see it."

Famolare, who public records indicate is 64 years old, is a longtime Boston firefighter who climbed the ranks in recent years, going from captain in 1999 to district fire chief in 2000 and then to district chief for administration in 2005, payroll records show. His pay increased from $110,619 in 2002 to $155,375 last year.

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