A 52-year-old man accused of using New England School of Law’s Amazon account to buy equipment for a band he was a member of and other items unrelated to his job is now facing three charges of larceny over $1,200, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
Gareth Flanagan, of Medford, made an initial appearance in Suffolk Superior Court on Wednesday, where a clerk magistrate ordered him held on $1,000 bail and barred him from going near the school. He will return to court on Sept. 9, the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Flanagan worked at the New England School of Law as its IT Director, a position that gave him access to the school’s Amazon account. As IT Director, Flanagan could purchase items up to $5,000 without needing approval from the budget director, according to the statement.
Prosecutors say he took advantage of the access, regularly using the Amazon account between January 2020 and October 2022 to purchase equipment for his band, “Sloth Machine,” and other items not associated with the school or his job. The school hired an external auditor who determined the theft total roughly $68,000, District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said.
When Flanagan was confronted by members of the audit team and members of the law school’s board, prosecutors claim he admitted to making the unauthorized purchases and said he was “testing” the equipment.
Flanagan returned some, but not all, of the items to the law school.
“As we’ve seen in many work-based theft cases, this man took advantage of his position for personal gain,” Hayden said in the statement. “Theft at the workplace is not only a breach of trust but, in this case, impacted faculty and students who relied on the NESL budget for resources and technology.”
