BOSTON — A jury found a former MBTA trolley driver from Saugus guilty of fraudulently collecting workers’ compensation and disability insurance after paying someone to wear a Michael Myers costume and attack him on the job.
A Suffolk Superior Court jury found Thomas Lucey, 47, of Saugus, guilty of workers’ compensation fraud, perjury, misleading police, and two counts of insurance fraud Friday. He was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by three years of probation, according to Suffolk County District Attorney spokeswoman Renee Nadeau Algarin.
He was additionally ordered by Judge Michael Ricciuti to pay a $5,000 fine and $60,000 restitution.
“We tried the case and we put on the best defense that anybody could and the jury came back the other way,” said Attorney Michael Natola on behalf of his client.
Lucey maintains that he is not guilty of the crimes, said Natola.
Shortly after midnight on Oct. 30, 2016, MBTA Transit Police responded to a report that a man, wearing dark coveralls, a Michael Myers Halloween mask, and carrying a plastic pumpkin, had attacked a trolley operator at the Cedar Grove Station on the Mattapan trolley line.
The driver, Lucey, said the assailant pulled him out of the trolley and punched him repeatedly as he lay on the ground before fleeing the area, according to a statement from former Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. He was transported to Carney Hospital after the assault.
The next day, Transit Police released surveillance video of the suspect to the public in an effort to identify him.
“This was a cowardly act and assaults on MBTA employees will not be tolerated,” the department said in a statement on Oct. 31, 2016.
But there was one problem.
Responding officers collected the plastic pumpkin left behind by the alleged assailant as he fled. Fingerprints were lifted from the pumpkin and ultimately led to an acquaintance of Lucey’s, who cooperated with the investigation.
The attacker told Transit Police that Lucey had paid him $2,000 to take part in the planned assault, which was corroborated by bank and phone records that showed communication between the two before and after the attack.
Lucey filed paperwork to receive workers’ compensation, where he made false statements regarding the assault and signed the document under the penalties of perjury. He also received long-term disability insurance, citing post-traumatic stress as a result of the incident.
