A former Norfolk County jail official has pleaded guilty to federal charges for having subordinates do free plumbing work at his home, sometimes during regular business hours, authorities said.
Thomas Brady, 54, of Norwood, entered his plea Friday in US District Court in Boston to charges of using interstate facilities to commit bribery and extortion and witness tampering, legal filings show.
His lawyer, Brian Kelly, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Kelly had said after Brady’s arrest last year that the government in press materials failed “to note that this whole case is based on $500 worth of emergency plumbing work done by friends and coworkers who were not extorted out of anything.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 28, and prosecutors will recommend that Brady, former assistant deputy superintendent for jail ops at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, serve a period of “incarceration at the low end of the Guidelines sentencing range,” a plea deal said.
Prosecutors said Brady, who served as assistant deputy superintendent for jail operations before he was promoted to deputy superintendent in May 2023, used his position and authority “to order” two maintenance officers to make repairs at his home during and after work hours between December 2021 and mid-November 2022.
Prosecutors said the two officers did the work and feared that if they refused, Brady would use his clout to negatively affect their jobs by changing their work schedules or position.
In November 2024, the state Ethics Commission issued a preliminary order against Brady finding he flouted the law on multiple occasions by having his subordinates do free plumbing work at his home.
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said Brady’s employment was terminated on May 5, 2025.
Prosecutors said one of the officers, identified in court records as “Maintenance Officer A,” installed a showerhead at Brady’s home during working hours in late 2021.
In another instance, in February 2022, prosecutors said Brady had asked the officer fix his water heater on a Sunday. The officer was unavailable that day but the next morning drove to Brady’s home, instead of to work, and fixed the water heater.
The work also included a trip to Home Depot that day to buy a new 50-gallon water heater, which the maintenance officer carried to Brady’s truck and installed at his home, prosecutors said. Brady then drove the officer to the sheriff’s office to clock in.
Later, in October 2022, Brady ordered the other maintenance officer, identified in court records as “Maintenance Officer B,” to come to his home to fix his heating system during normal work hours, prosecutors said. But after Brady had problems with his heating system, he called the officer back to replace the circulator pump, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 15, 2022, a third maintenance officer (Maintenance Officer C) heard Brady was looking for the one who fixed his heating system. Officer C texted the Officer B, writing “Just a heads up someone is looking for you.” Officer B responded, “What the [expletive] do I do,” to which Officer C responded with a shrugging man emoji.
“If I have to do it tonight you around if something goes wrong,” Officer B texted.
“For you yes,” the other officer replied.
Less than a month later, in early November 2022, Officer B returned to Brady’s home with Officer C to assist as they drained the hot water system and removed an old circulator pump to install the new one, prosecutors said.
“The corrections profession is built on honor, integrity, and trust,” said the sheriff’s office in a statement issued soon after Brady got pinched. “When there is a betrayal of those principles, we all feel it.”
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.