Two retired Massachusetts State Police troopers are now facing criminal charges after authorities said they took free guns from a prospective vendor and weapons from the state police armory, even though the weapons were deemed unserviceable, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced.
The two troopers, former Lt. Paul M. Wosny, 50, of Norfolk, and former Trooper Michael G. Wilmot, 59, of Sturbridge, will be arraigned in East Brookfield District Court on a charge of using their official position to obtain an unwarranted privilege.
Criminal complaints were issued on Oct. 16.
According to the attorney general’s office, the owner of Troy Industries in West Springfield gave two Trooper Carbine rifles to Wilmot for free, one for him and one for Wosny in August 2013.
The company manufactures guns and accessories.
“The weapons were customized with Wilmot’s and Wosny’s MSP ID numbers as the rifles’ serial numbers,” the attorney general’s office said. “During this time, Troy Industries was seeking to become an MSP vendor.”
The Massachusetts State Police Armory has been based in New Braintree since 2010 and is responsible for the purchase of firearms and ammunition for the state police. Both troopers worked in the armory.
According to authorities, in February 2015, Wosny decided, without the knowledge or approval of his supervisors, to do an exchange of state police weapons with Jurek Bros., a firearms dealer and state police vendor in Greenfield, for store credit towards the purchase of new weapons.
Wilmot collected roughly 200 weapons – rifles, shotguns and handguns, at the armory. All of the weapons were deemed obsolete, unserviceable or non-issuable.
“Prior to sending the weapons to Jurek for the trade, Wosny tagged two weapons and Wilmot tagged nine weapons, indicating that they were interested in them, and later were given those weapons by Jurek at no cost,” the attorney general’s office said. “Wosny and Wilmot later submitted false and misleading reports in which they failed to disclose that they had gotten weapons back from Jurek at no charge.”
Wosny was transferred out of the armory in September 2015. In October 2015, Wilmot alleged took four Colt upper receivers, more than 100 high capacity plastic magazines and approximately 23 Troy upper receivers from the armory.
The following month, in November 2015, Wilmot and Wosny met at the state police armory, where Wosny took three of the Troy upper receivers and Wilmot retained two Colt uppers, over 100 high capacity plastic magazines and 13-15 Troy uppers, authorities said.
Wilmot is scheduled to be arraigned in East Brookfield District Court on Nov. 1 and Wosny on Dec. 5.
State police issued a statement after the charges were announced. It reads:
“The criminal charges against two retired members of the department’s Armorer’s Office are the result of an investigative process launched by the Massachusetts State Police in 2016, when the department began investigating the inappropriate transfer of outdated unused weapons from the department armory to a firearms dealer and, separately, the inappropriate acceptance of two free weapons from a firearm manufacturer seeking to become a department vendor. The State Police provided information to the Attorney General’s office for review for potential criminality and supports that office’s prosecution of the case. The conduct as alleged in the complaints contradicts the standards of conduct demanded by the Department, and since the internal investigation, stricter inventory controls and systems have been implemented in the MSP armory.”
A senior officer in the state police’s Division of Investigative Services obtained the criminal complaints under the attorney general’s direction.
Wosny was transferred out of the Armorer’s Office before the state police investigation following his promotion to lieutenant in 2015. He retired in September 2016.
Wilmot was removed from the Armorer’s Office in July 2016 once the state police investigation was underway, was suspended without pay in September 2016. He retired in November 2016.
All new personnel were assigned to the armory when the state police investigation revealed possible wrongdoing by troopers.
The state police have seen a number of scandals over the past couple of years. Several troopers were charged in state and federal court in an overtime abuse investigation.
In September, the Suffolk District Attorney’s office indicted Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew Sheehan on assault and weapons charges after he shot an ATV driver during a police confrontation in February 2018.
In August, Dana Pullman, the former head of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, and a lobbyist for the union were arrested and charged in a federal kickback scheme.