By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Ahead of his trial on charges he stole wages from the town of Richmond, former Police Chief Andrew Wood filed paperwork that he plans to plead guilty.
Wood was the full-time police chief in Hancock while simultaneously the lead police officer for the near-by Richmond police department when he allegedly double-dipped in both towns, collecting pay for time he did not work, according to court documents.
Wood will avoid jail time under the terms of the negotiated plea, according to a notice of intent to plead filed in Cheshire Superior Court. He will be sentenced to a suspended 12-month jail term, suspended for two years, and he must repay the town of Richmond $12,000.
The agreement requires Wood not to contest revocation of his police certification, nor to contest placement on the state’s Exculpatory Evidence Schedule of police officers with misconduct records.
Hancock fired Wood in 2021 after an internal investigation uncovered the fact he claimed time in Hancock on his timecard during times he had also claimed to be working in Richmond.
“A review of your timesheets for the towns of Hancock and Richmond, as well as dispatch logs, demonstrates a pattern of inaccurate, and false timesheet entries,” the Hancock Board of Selectmen stated in a letter sent to Wood after the investigation. “Claiming you worked for the Town of Hancock when you were in fact not working for the Town is a serious transgression that took advantage of the Town, its taxpayers, and had a detrimental effect on the management and fiscal responsibility of the Town.”
But Richmond officials had known about Wood’s questionable practices for years at that point, according to new court filings. The town ended its relationship with Wood when residents voted to eliminate its police department in 2019 and contract with the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Department instead. At the time, the town cited a need for cost savings. Wood had been with Richmond’s department since 1998.
But a December motion filed in court reveals Richmond officials knew Wood had given himself an unauthorized raise. Selectman William Daniels told prosecutors he discovered Wood’s new raise in 2017 while he examined town pay records. The Selectboard had not approved the pay hike, Daniels said.
When confronted about the raise, Wood told Daniels the board had promised him a raise, and Richmond’s then town administrator approved it without the board’s knowledge. The town administrator in 2017 was Heidi Wood, Andrew Wood’s wife, according to the motion.
Wood was never charged for the alleged time theft in Hancock where he was a salaried employee. But Richmond paid Wood hourly. In Richmond, Wood allegedly put in for hours during which he did not work for the town. One witness, a former Hancock officer who worked with Wood, was set to testify Wood billed Richmond a minimum of four hours whenever he took a call for the town.
Melissa Hetrick allegedly witnessed Wood, while both were on duty for Hancock, take a short telephone call for Richmond. After the call, Wood allegedly explained to Hetrick he planned to bill four hours for the call and further told her about his billing practices, according to a motions also filed in December.
Wood issued a resignation letter in 2021 after he was forced out by Hancock, blaming the Black Lives Matter protests for his decision to retire.
“With the events involving law enforcement throughout this country, I have decided that I have completed all of the tasks that I set out to accomplish in Hancock,” Wood wrote in his public resignation letter.
Wood is scheduled to enter his guilty plea on Tuesday in a hearing set for the Merrimack Superior Court in Concord. His case has bounced from Cheshire, Merrimack, and Sullivan counties in order to avoid judicial conflicts of interest.
