BOSTON — Embattled Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins will step down from his post while he defends himself against federal extortion charges.
In a joint statement, Gov. Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Tompkins has “agreed to step away from his position until the federal case against him is resolved” and tapped Special Sheriff Mark Lawhorne to temporarily fill the post.
“The allegations against Sheriff Tompkins are serious,” Healey said in the Wednesday statement. “The Suffolk County Sheriff is responsible for managing more than a thousand employees, hundreds of inmates and programs that are essential to public safety and rehabilitation.
“It is a full-time job that demands full-time attention,” she added. “The people of Massachusetts need to be able to trust in the integrity of the criminal justice system and that their elected officials are fully engaged in the work of serving the public.”
Campbell called the move “the right step for the sheriff’s office and the public as a whole” and said it will avoid “prolonged proceedings before the Supreme Judicial Court” to remove him from office amid the allegations.
Both Healey and Campbell were facing pressure from Republicans to call for Tompkins to resign after he was arrested Aug. 15 in Florida after a federal grand jury indicted him on two counts of extortion under color of official right.
He’s accused of extorting $50,000 from a national cannabis retailer that was seeking to open a new dispensary in Boston. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Federal prosecutors allege Tompkins pressured the cannabis company executive to sell him stock before the company went public. At the time, the unnamed company was working with the sheriff’s office to screen graduates of its re-entry program to apply to work at dispensaries.
The indictments allege that Tompkins threatened the company he would block renewal of its license if it didn’t give him the shares. He later demanded $50,000 after the value of his shares dropped, prosecutors said.
The Democrat has been the county’s top law enforcement official since 2013 when he was first elected. Healey endorsed his reelection campaign in 2022 when she was then Attorney General. Tompkins was reelected to another six-year term.
Tompkins’ lawyer told reporters following his arraignment last Thursday at a Boston courthouse that his client is innocent and expects to be vindicated once the case is heard by the court.
“Not every person charged with a crime is guilty. Not every person charged with a crime is convicted,” Attorney Martin Weinberg said in remarks. “Because we believe in the system, we’re not going to try it out here in the media. We are going to have a trial.”
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com.