The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department wanted to hit the road.
So in early 2023, the office made an unusual purchase — a new Coleman motor home — with a specific goal, documents show: to bring the work of the civil process office, serving summonses and other legal documents, directly to the people.
But the “civil process mobile unit” never got very mobile. Despite its $113,000 price tag, the RV was never used for its intended purpose. By this fall, it sat stationary on the department’s Braintree campus after it “became evident” it would not be cost effective to deploy, according to a department spokesperson. Without recouping the cost, Sheriff Patrick McDermott’s office in October turned the vehicle over to the state, which could sell it or give it to another agency.
The failed experiment offers one window into how the state’s elected county sheriffs spend funds that could soon come under scrutiny from state investigators.
In addition to running county jails and houses of correction, sheriffs have civil process divisions, which can serve subpoenas, seize property, or make civil arrests. They collect various fees for that work, generating millions of dollars in largely discretionary revenue every year across the state’s 14 sheriff’s departments — all separate from the roughly $740 million the state provides their offices.
The civil process money faces little to no state oversight, and while a portion of the fees sheriff’s offices collect is supposed to go to the state’s general fund, some sheriffs have a history of not making all their transfers. When they do have a surplus, it often flows to purchases unrelated to civil process service, according to a Globe review of spending records since 2023.
In Berkshire County, the civil process fund put $50,000 in new wheels under the department’s motorcycle unit and funded $4,300 in new equipment for its dive team. McDermott’s Norfolk County office paid $2,500 for Ayla Brown, a former “American Idol” contestant and the daughter of former US Senator Scott Brown, to perform at several graduation and promotion ceremonies.
Franklin County’s sheriff tapped civil process fees to help redecorate the department’s executive office suite and pay for several expenses when members of the department marched in a local St. Patrick’s Day parade in 2025, receipts and spending records show. That included $3,000 for matching hooded sweat shirts; $7,200 for float materials, office décor, and blinds; and $17 for a green dog tuxedo.
Several sheriffs said the civil process fees they collect are often barely enough to cover the civil process work, especially because some of the fees, such as $20 for serving a summons, haven’t increased in over two decades.
Other sheriffs said any extra revenue helps pay for agency expenses, covering programs or costs that taxpayers do not. A spokesperson for McDermott, for example, said all the spending is at the “statutory discretion” of the office and is designed to “address the needs of people within Norfolk County.”
“Every dollar we spend works toward our goals of saving lives, reducing crime, and strengthening families in our community,” Franklin County Sheriff Lori M. Streeter said in a statement. That includes ensuring the sheriff’s department is a “more active partner in our community” and boosting morale among her deputies, including at parades, she said.
“I can think of few better ways to help an officer’s outlook on their career than when members of the public, especially those who have been residents in our facility, interact with our staff and smile, wave, and say, ‘Thank you,’” she said.
The sheriffs have long had wide discretion in how they use civil process money. But this year, sheriffs’ spending is coming under increased scrutiny.
Gob-smacked that sheriffs reported more than $120 million in budget deficits last fiscal year, the Democrat-led Legislature held back tens of millions of dollars in funding for their offices, citing what legislative leaders called “questionable spending practices.”
Lawmakers instead passed, and Governor Maura Healey signed, legislation ordering the state’s inspector general to investigate the departments’ spending, including on “activities not specifically required by statute.”
Inspector General Jeffrey Shapiro declined to comment about the scope of the probe until it’s complete. But two sheriffs told the Globe that Shapiro’s office has already requested a trove of documents detailing their spending, and Plymouth County Sheriff Joe McDonald said civil process accounts are “part of their review.”
“Historically members of the Legislature have viewed the civil process offices as these giant off-the-books revenue generators,” McDonald said. “That’s really not the case anymore.”
For his office, he said, the civil process division is “essentially a break-even” operation. Last fiscal year, records show the department’s main civil process account took in $4.3 million and spent $4 million.
“I know historically some of the sheriffs have gotten themselves in trouble with the civil process offices,” McDonald said. “We’re an open book.”
For now, the sheriff’s departments aren’t required to report revenue they earn from the fees to the state’s official accounting system, known as MMARS.
A portion of the money the fees generate is supposed to go to the state’s general fund, according to a 2022 state audit. But auditors found at the time that nine of 14 sheriffs’ departments had failed to transfer that money in at least one three-month period over the course of more than a year. Additionally, they found there was no mechanism to monitor whether the legally required transfers even occurred.
Any year-to-year surplus in civil process accounts should go back to the state, said state Senator Michael O. Moore, who led a 2013 commission that examined sheriff’s offices and has repeatedly filed legislation seeking to standardize how civil process offices operate.
“I don’t know of any state agency that has these separate accounts,” the Millbury Democrat said. “We’ve got revenue sources coming in that we can’t factor in [when budgeting]. Is that really appropriate?”
The way the civil process offices are run differs from department to department. Worcester County’s civil process division operates not as a part of the department but as a separate corporation. Sheriff Lew Evangelidis said he does not “micromanage” its spending, some of which flows every month to the Worcester County Deputy Sheriffs Association, a nonprofit that Evangelidis said is “more based on charity” — including holding senior picnics and coat drives — than law enforcement activity.
Hampden County’s civil process division, by contrast, is classified as a separate “political subdivision.” Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi said through a spokesperson that any surplus funds “do not function as a backstop” for the wider budget and instead go to specific programs, such as helping guide people through the eviction process.
In Suffolk County, the civil process division operates independently from other divisions. It spent nearly $850,000 last fiscal year alone, though a spokesperson said the funds cover only the civil process division itself. As of late October, the department reported having seven different civil process accounts, which collectively held more than $1.5 million.
The Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association, which represents the 14 sheriffs, has pushed back on lawmakers’ criticisms over their offices’ collective budget deficits, arguing in statements and interviews that they stem from the growing cost of running county jails, including around medical expenses and collectively bargained salary increases — not overspending or mismanagement.
Hampshire County Sheriff Patrick Cahillane said his division costs more money to run than it generates at times. Records show its civil process account ran $6,000 in the red in fiscal year 2024.
“This is my life’s work. I feel strongly that we are in a business that nobody really understands,” said Cahillane, a former process server himself. His and the 13 other sheriff’s departments are technically state agencies, but he said sheriffs are also elected officials empowered by voters to run their offices the way they think is best.
“The discretion of civil process should be left to each sheriff’s office,” Cahillane said. “They understand their local community better than anybody else.”
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.