BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.
BOSTON – A Boston Police detective pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to obstruct a FBI investigation related to the Academy Homes Street Gang (AHSG), a violent narcotics trafficking gang that operated out of the Academy Homes housing development in Roxbury.
Brian Smigielski, 43, of Norton, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States during the course of a federal investigation. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Jan. 28, 2016.
From early 2009 to 2011, the FBI and Boston Police Department (BPD) were conducting a joint investigation into AHSG, during the initial stages of which Smigielski was the lead investigator. In late 2009, Smigielski, became upset after being ordered to turn over the investigation to the FBI and other BPD units, and thereafter, in 2010 and 2011, conspired with a fellow BPD officer and AHSG gang members to impede the FBI in its investigation of AHSG. Smigielski assisted the AHSG gang members by, among other things, informing the gang members of the FBI’s pending investigation and warning them that their arrests were imminent.
The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Ortiz; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Superintendent Frank Mancini of the Boston Police Department’s Anti-Corruption Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dustin Chao of Ortiz’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.
