{"id":591161,"date":"2026-04-08T22:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591161\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T22:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T22:29:16","slug":"former-state-rep-tries-to-get-his-pension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/591161\/","title":{"rendered":"Former state rep tries to get his pension"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nangle is also arguing that taking his pension away would leave him \u201cdestitute,\u201d and thus, violates his constitutional rights to protection from excessive fines. A Lowell District Court judge rejected that argument, too, ruling in late January that Nangle has three jobs, including a relatively new role as executive director of anti-internet gambling nonprofit, Stop iGaming in Massachusetts<\/a>, that pays him $6,000 a month, court documents show.<\/p>\n

Nangle now works with those struggling with addiction<\/a>, and has spoken openly about his own addiction, including last year when he spoke in favor of a bill that puts new limits on online sports betting.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery step of the plaintiff\u2019s current path is paved toward a road of redemption \u2014 not only for himself, but for others as well,” Lowell District Court Judge Pacinco M. DeCapua, Jr., wrote in a court ruling.<\/p>\n

But that work notwithstanding, Nangle\u2019s actions were both a significant breach of public trust and \u201ca pattern of behavior over a long period of time,\u201d DeCapua wrote. He wrote in another decision that Nangle\u2019s official role and convictions couldn\u2019t be separated, saying it was \u201conly because he had been a member of the House of Representatives at the relevant time that he was in a position to illegally withdraw funds from his campaign account.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThose actions dishonored his title as a State Representative,\u201d DeCapua wrote.<\/p>\n

Nangle has repeatedly denied that there was a link, arguing in court documents that his convictions were instead \u201cpersonal in nature.\u201d <\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Nangle, then a member of the House Ethics Committee, had stolen $70,000 from his campaign to feed his gambling addiction, and bilked a local bank out of more than $300,000 in loan money that he wasn\u2019t qualified to receive.<\/p>\n

The charges destroyed his political career<\/a> in 2020, and Nangle eventually pleaded guilty, getting a 15-month prison sentence the next year.<\/p>\n

But, Nangle argued in recent court documents, that should not mean he should lose his pension benefits, which is valued at roughly $806,000, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

Nangle said his convictions didn\u2019t involve \u201cgovernmental funds or property\u201d and were in \u201cno way\u201d directly related to his office or his position. A state hearing officer who handled his pension case concluded that Nangle also engaged in \u201cuncharged criminal conduct,\u201d namely allegations that he helped to push a tax credit proposal through the House in exchange for two payments from a property development company, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

The hearing officer determined Nangle tried to cover up the \u201cbribes\u201d by falsely claiming he was working as a \u201cconsultant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nangle, in turn, said the state retirement board \u201cimproperly relied upon facts\u201d that weren\u2019t part of his conviction in reaching its decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Court should reverse the judgment of the District Court and order that the action of the [Retirement] Board be reversed because the Board\u2019s forfeiture is unsupported by the law and evidence,\u201d Nangle wrote in his appeal.<\/p>\n

Efforts to reach Nangle and his attorney, Timothy Smyth, were not successful Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Public officials have a long, and often checkered, history in fighting pension decisions in court.<\/p>\n

Last year, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled<\/a> that a decision to strip a former state trooper of $1 million in retirement payouts after he was convicted as part of the department\u2019s wide-ranging overtime fraud scandal<\/a> was not excessive, citing the severity of his crime. <\/p>\n

Former House speaker Thomas Finneran in 2017 lost his legal fight for his pension<\/a>, too, after the SJC ruled his federal conviction was related to his former office. Finneran, who resigned as speaker in 2004, pleaded guilty in federal court three years later to obstruction of justice for lying under oath in a federal civil lawsuit that challenged the constitutionality of the state\u2019s 2001 redistricting plan.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, state officials can only revoke pensions of those convicted of crimes if they\u2019re related to their public employment. But they aren\u2019t always slam dunks<\/a> either.<\/p>\n

A year before Finneran\u2019s decision, for example, the SJC ruled that a retired Peabody police lieutenant could collect his pension despite a criminal conviction for a job-related offense. In that case, Edward A. Bettencourt was convicted of 21 counts of unauthorized use of a computer system for logging on to a state database in 2004 to check civil service scores of 21 officers, including four who were competing with him for an open captain\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

He was fined $10,500 for the misdemeanor offenses but received no jail time. The SJC ruled at the time that stripping Bettencourt of his entire pension is \u201cnot proportional to the gravity of the underlying offenses of which he was convicted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nangle cites that decision in making his argument that losing his pension, too, is \u201cgrossly disproportional to the gravity\u201d of his criminal offenses. As a \u201cretirement age individual\u201d \u2014 Nangle is 65 years old \u2014 the all-or-nothing penalty of losing his pension would leave him destitute, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese errors are so substantial and material,\u201d Smyth wrote in Nangle\u2019s appeal, \u201cthat failure to correct them will result in manifest injustice to Nangle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @mattpstout<\/a>.<\/p>\n