State Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division Alleges DCR Employee Jessica Santiago Violated Conflict of Interest Law working for City Parks & Rec

Commission found reasonable cause to believe Santiago held DCR and Revere aquatics jobs with overlapping hours and sought pay from both city and state for those hours

Special to The Advocate

The State Ethics Commission’s Enforcement Division issued an Order to Show Cause today alleging that Jessica Santiago, an employee of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and a former employee of the Revere Parks and Recreation Department, violated the conflict of interest law by submitting false timesheets and being paid for hours she did not work.

According to the Order, Santiago was a fulltime 39-hours-per-week Aquatics Manager for the Revere Parks and Recreation Department and had duties including managing the Garfield Pool. In April 2022, Santiago began a second job as a seasonal 40-hours-per-week Aquatics Program Regional Coordinator for DCR, which assigned her to pools in Malden, Melrose, Everett, and Chelsea. While employed by both Revere and DCR, Santiago often worked one job during the same hours she was scheduled to work the other job, submitted false timesheets to her public employers, used sick leave hours from one job to work the other job, and received at least $9,000 in unearned payments for at least 330 overlapping hours, the Order alleges.

In July 2022, Santiago did not report for her Revere job on multiple occasions and did not communicate with her city employer for days at a time, and then took 55 hours of sick leave the following month, the Order alleges. According to the Order, Revere had to unexpectedly close Garfield Pool multiple times during summer 2022 and issue thousands of dollars in refunds for canceled swimming lessons.

The Order alleges that Santiago’s submission of timesheets to Revere and DCR for overlapping hours violated the conflict of interest law’s prohibitions against public employees submitting false claims for payment to their employer and using their official positions to obtain valuable benefits to which they are not entitled.

Pursuant to the Commission’s Enforcement Procedures, the Enforcement Division files an Order to Show Cause after the Commission has found reasonable cause to believe the subject of the Order violated the conflict of interest law. Before filing the Order to Show Cause, the Enforcement Division gives the subject an opportunity to resolve the matter through a disposition agreement. The Commission will schedule a public hearing on the allegations against Santiago within 90 days.

The Commission is authorized to impose a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation of the conflict of interest law.

The Commission encourages public employees to contact the Commission’s Legal Division at 617-371-9500 for free advice if they have any questions regarding how the conflict of interest law may apply to them.