One of the Left’s sanctuary darlings just got slapped with federal charges. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, best known for kicking ICE out of his jails and turning Boston into a safe haven for illegal immigrants, was arrested on Friday by the FBI in Florida on federal extortion charges. According to reports, Tompkins allegedly demanded $50,000 from the owner of a national cannabis company looking to operate in Boston.
Tompkins was arrested after a federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly extorting a cannabis company executive. He was arrested on two counts of extortion under color of official right, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office. Foley criticized Tompkins for allegedly abusing his position, emphasizing that elected law enforcement officials should act with integrity and serve the public—not themselves. She also called his alleged actions a betrayal of voter trust and disrespectful to the honest employees in his department.
"Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest. and law-abiding — not self-serving,” she said. “His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better."
Prosecutors say the cannabis company applied for a license to open a dispensary in Boston back in 2019. As part of the application, the company needed a "positive impact plan" — essentially a requirement to show how they would benefit the local community. They fulfilled that by partnering with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department to hire formerly incarcerated individuals through a re-entry program. But as the company began moving forward and making its plans more public, Sheriff Steven Tompkins allegedly pressured an executive to let him invest in the company. Fearing that Tompkins could jeopardize their partnership — and potentially delay the IPO or derail their license approval — the executive gave in. Tompkins reportedly wired $50,000 to buy stock in 2020 at roughly $1.73 per share, after a reverse stock split, that translated into around 14,417 shares at a value of about $3.46 each.
When the company went public in 2021, its stock was valued at around $9.60 per share. But by May 2022, the stock had declined, resulting in financial losses for Tompkins. That’s when Tompkins demanded his $50,000 investment back. The company executive agreed, even though the stock’s value had dropped, and repaid Tompkins in five checks issued between May 2022 and July 2023. Prosecutors allege that, at Tompkins’ direction, the executive labeled some of the checks as “loan repayment” or company expenses” in the memo lines to disguise the true nature of the payments.
