Pension Stripped from Former Watertown Officer Guilty of Drug Charges

Former Watertown Police Sgt. Joseph Deignan had his pension taken away by the Watertown Retirement Board after he pleaded guilty to federal drug charges in 2013.

On Wednesday the Retirement Board decided to take Deignan's retirement benefits away, according to a story in the Boston Globe. The board cited Deignan's federal charges as the reason for denying the pension. They added that they would have considered his work record with the Police Department, but could not under state retirement laws, the Globe reported.

In August, a Federal Court found Deignan guilty of using a false identity to get prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled substances. Federal officials say he stole the driver's license of a man in 2010 as part of his work as the WPD's traffic supervisor. 

Deignan was arrested in Marlborough in December 2012 when he tried to forge a prescription at a CVS.

The Retirement Board voted to take away the pension retroactively to November 2013, when he was sentenced, according to the Globe.

Read the entire Boston Globe article by clicking here.