Former ZBA Chair Thomas Brady sentenced to federal prison

The United States Attorney’s Office of the District of Massachusetts announced last week the sentencing of former Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) employee and former Norwood Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Thomas Brady.

Brady was formerly the Assistant Superintendent at the NCSO, and in 2024, the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission (SEC) originally charged him with conflicts of interest. The issues stem back from 2021 and 2022, when Brady approved NCSO plumbers to perform work at his private residence, and as the story unfolded, Brady would plead guilty to one count of witness tampering and one count of use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion.

The issue all started with home repairs. The work in question was replacing a shower head, a water heater and repairing a boiler. The work was performed on at least four occasions, and the workers were never paid.

The workers, referred to as Maintenance Worker A, B, or C in the release, were all subordinates to Brady. Worker A said they feared if they refused the work, they would be punished through scheduling, withholding of promotion, or similar retaliation. Around Oct. 6, 2022, they went to Brady’s house to work on the water infrastructure. Worker A had to return several times to troubleshoot some issues, and Worker B came along.

Around June of 2023, Worker C reported Brady to the State Ethics Commission for having employees do work at his house. The SEC interviewed Workers A and B, and around October of 2023, Brady learned of the investigation.

Brady apparently forged a letter to the SEC claiming to be Worker C, and divulged information about a confidential, internal NCSO investigation into Worker B, to which Brady listed himself as a witness in the investigation in the letter.

According to the release, federal officers examined the postage stamp on the letter, found a fingerprint that matched Brady’s and then tested the DNA of the letter flap to find another match for Brady.

The court also found that Brady instituted a smear campaign to disparage the victims and the witnesses in the investigation into his behavior. Brady apparently sent a letter to a school attended by a minor relative of Worker C, in which he anonymously and falsely accused Worker C of sexually molesting said minor relative. The school reported the letter to the Department of Children and Families, which triggered an emergency investigation based on said false accusation.

According to reporting from NBC Boston, Brady apologized to his family for the incident, but not to the victims. He has been sentenced to 20 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and a fine of $5,000.