Sheriff's sergeant sentenced to one year for drug possession
On Wednesday, after a six-day jury trial, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Fahey sentenced Michael Dell’Isola, 52, of Somerville to one year in state prison, six months to be served, with the remaining six months suspended for five years pending completion of probation, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.
The conditions of Dell’Isola’s probation will require that he attend a drug treatment program; seek full-time employment; avoid drug use; and submit to random drug screenings.
Authorities began to investigate Dell’Isola in April 2011, when State Police assigned to the Middlesex district attorney’s office received a tip that Dell’Isola was pressing an inmate at the Cambridge jail, where he worked, to give him money and cocaine.
After several phone calls between Dell’Isola and an undercover trooper recorded by the State Police, in which Dell’Isola said he wanted cash and drugs, the two arranged to meet.
The trooper and Dell’Isola met at a Woburn coffee shop, again briefly discussing money and drugs, before the trooper handed Dell’Isola a coffee cup containing $500 in cash and a bag of cocaine.
According to the district attorney’s office, Dell’Isola took the cup and walked out of the shop, where he was arrested by troopers waiting outside.
Dell’Isola was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury June 2, 2011, arraigned July 5, 2011, in Middlesex Superior Court; and fired from the Sheriff’s Department.
“This defendant abused his position of authority by participating in illegal drug activities while on duty as a sergeant in the Middlesex Sheriff’s Department,” Leone said in a statement. “With today’s verdict, the defendant is held responsible for betraying the public’s trust through his actions.”
The case was investigated by the PACT unit in Leone’s office.
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