The Massachusetts State Police trooper who appears to be the worst offender in the overtime scandal destroyed copies of citations in an attempt to cover up his misdeeds, a federal prosecutor wrote.

Gregory Raftery, 48, of Westwood, who retired amid the overtime investigation within the state police, admitted to skipping specialized patrol shifts in 2015 and 2016, resulting in him collecting $51,337 in overtime pay.

The number is the highest amount of any of the troopers criminally charged in the investigation. Raftery is scheduled to be sentenced in a federal court next week.

MassLive learned Raftery was suspected of skipping more than 100 Accident and Injury Reduction Effort patrols – known as AIRE – which were specialized overtime patrols on the Massachusetts Turnpike exclusively worked by members of the now-former Troop E.

The number of skipped AIRE shifts made him the worst offender compared to some of the 46 troopers flagged in the overtime investigation, sources told MassLive last year.

Each AIRE patrol was for four hours. Federal prosecutors said in Raftery’s sentencing memorandum that he skipped 287 AIRE overtime hours in 2015 and another 397.5 hours of AIRE overtime in 2016. That equals roughly 171 AIRE patrol shifts.

Sources have told MassLive that Raftery appears to be the only trooper who skipped triple-digit AIRE patrol shifts. One source said another trooper high on the suspect list of skipped AIRE patrols was in the mid-30 range, which is much less than Raftery.

In 2017, state police began an internal investigation of several overtime programs within Troop E, include the AIRE patrols. In 2018 the department announced an internal audit had revealed over 40 troopers who were suspected of failing to work some or all of the overtime shifts for which they had been paid.

Eight troopers were charged with embezzlement in federal court. All of them have pleaded guilty. Three troopers are also facing state charges. Lt. David Wilson is the only trooper in the group who is facing both state and federal charges.

“Intending to show up for less than the entire shift, or not at all, Raftery spent time during his regular shift or paid details, obtaining information he needed to create the bogus citations for upcoming overtime shifts,” prosecutors said. “First, Raftery obtained license plate numbers of drivers that Raftery observed during his regular shift. Raftery would then use his access to criminal justice information systems (“CJIS”) to obtain the detailed driver information associated with the plate number."

The former trooper used the information to write phony tickets to make it appear he was working the specialized overtime patrol, authorities said. He would provide copies of these citations to supervisors and completed internal AIRE paperwork and payroll submissions.

Raftery, prosecutors said, would add detailed listings of the fraudulent citations in the state police system.

“Raftery destroyed identical copies of these citations that should have gone to the operators, courts, and RMV,” the prosecutor said in a footnote of the sentencing memorandum.

Authorities said Raftery, like other troopers busted in the investigation, would write phony tickets in order to make it look like he was working the AIRE patrols. FBI agents checked the radios on troopers’ cruisers to show they weren’t working AIRE patrols and weren’t even on the road.

“In short, Raftery’s MSP cruiser was off the entire time that he had claimed he was issuing tickets and working an AIRE overtime shift on the Turnpike,” a federal prosecutor wrote while discussing an October 2016 AIRE patrol in Raftery’s case. “Investigators found this pattern of fraud throughout Raftery’s MSP record.”

The court filing in Raftery’s case doubles-down on a previous comment by a prosecutor about ticket quotas.

As first reported by MassLive, federal prosecutors in the sentencing memorandum for former trooper Eric Chin said troopers were expected to issue 8 to 10 citations per AIRE patrol.

“Any failure to issue the required number of citations had to be explained to supervisors and command staff,” prosecutors wrote. “Repeated failures to meet this quota often resulted in a trooper being blocked from receiving such overtime opportunities.”

Any type of ticket quota is illegal, a legal expert said. Destroying or falsifying tickets is also illegal.

A state police spokesman issued a statement after the accusation of ticket quotas was brought up in the sentencing memorandums.

“Under the leadership of Colonel Gilpin, the Department has implemented several reforms, including the elimination of Troop E and AIRE Patrols, and has referred 46 troopers to federal prosecutors for alleged overtime abuse,” state police spokesman David Procopio said earlier this week. “While the department does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings, the Department has no policy or operating procedures that establish quotas, and does not endorse a quota system.”