For nearly a decade, Dana Pullman was the face of the Massachusetts State Police Union. He stood up for troopers. He negotiated contracts. And, according to federal prosecutors, he was quietly bleeding the union dry.
The charges unsealed Monday allege a brazen, long-running scheme. Pullman, the union’s former president, is accused of stealing close to $1 million from the union’s treasury. The money didn’t go to better equipment or legal funds for officers. It went to dinners, gifts, and trips to Florida and New York with his girlfriend. Prosecutors say he used a union debit card for personal expenses and then simply listed them as business costs. He reimbursed himself without receipts. The union executive board was kept in the dark.
That is one side of the case. The other involves Beacon Hill lobbyist Anne Lynch. She was arrested alongside Pullman at her home on August 26. The charge is bribery. The allegation is that Pullman steered state procurement deals to Lynch’s lobbying clients. In exchange, he got kickbacks.
The scheme was systematic. One company told investigators that Pullman made it clear: if they wanted to do business with Massachusetts, they had to hire Lynch. It didn’t matter if they already had a lobbyist under contract. Pullman implied the state’s doors would stay shut without her.
Federal prosecutors did not mince words. “Pullman used the union as his personal expense account,” one prosecutor said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing. “He treated union funds as his own, spending on vacations and gifts for his girlfriend while claiming it was for union business.”
The timeline matters. Pullman retired from the Massachusetts State Police in September 2018. That was weeks before the federal investigation came knocking. He left the force, but he did not leave the money behind. The alleged theft had been going on for years.
Court filings describe a man who saw no line between union funds and his own wallet. A union debit card became a personal credit card. A union bank account became a slush fund. The union itself was a vehicle for personal enrichment, not a representative body for troopers.
Lynch’s role was more transactional. Her lobbying firm stood to gain from the procurement deals Pullman could influence. The kickbacks were the price of entry. Prosecutors say they have evidence of the exchange. They have records. They have testimony.
Both arrests came early in the morning. Both homes were searched. The charges are bribery and conspiracy. The investigation is ongoing. More could follow.
For the rank-and-file troopers Pullman once represented, the news landed hard. The union president was supposed to be the one protecting them. Instead, prosecutors say, he was protecting himself. The nearly $1 million he allegedly stole came from dues paid by officers who trusted him.
The case is now in federal court. Pullman and Lynch are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But the evidence laid out in the filings is detailed. The accusations are specific. The paper trail is there.
This was not a moment of weakness. It was a pattern. Pullman bypassed the union’s oversight. He signed off on his own reimbursements. He spent union money on things no union would ever approve. And he did it for years.
The arrests close one chapter. The trial will open another.
