Compliance April 11, 2002

Convict Cop Must Refund Pension Payments

November 4, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A former Massachusetts state police lieutenant convicted of trying to kill a prosecutor now has to give back more than $27,000 in state pension money.
Reported by

Acording to the Springfield Union-News, the state Board of Retirement voted to revoke John Mace’s pension because state law prevents convicts from collecting a pension if the person’s crime is related to his official duties.

Mace, of Westfield, pleaded guilty in 1990 to charges that he tried to kill Joseph Quinlan, now a Northwestern assistant district attorney. Quinlan was a prosecutor in Hampden County when he was attacked in 1989.

According to the Union-News, Mace stabbed Quinlan in the Hampden district attorney’s office when the prosecutor found him about to set fire to files. Prosecutors say Mace wanted to hide his theft of about $118,000 of seized funds to support his gambling habit.

Mace served nine years in prison before being paroled in April 1999.

Mace’s pension was an issue in last week’s Massachusetts gubernatorial debate. Republican Mitt Romney attacked Treasurer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon O’Brien for making the payments.

Mace had been collecting his $2,990 monthly pension since early 2001.

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