Overview

• A federal indictment unsealed in early August charges Sheriff Steven Tompkins with two counts of extortion under color of official right, each carrying up to 20 years in prison plus supervised release and fines.
• Tompkins was arrested Aug. 8 in Florida and is being held in the Southern District of Florida pending transfer to Massachusetts for arraignment in Boston.
• The indictment alleges the scheme began in mid-2020 when Tompkins threatened to derail the Boston license of a cannabis firm now reported as Ascend Mass unless he received $50,000 in pre-IPO shares.
• Prosecutors claim he later demanded full repayment of the investment between May 2022 and July 2023 after share prices dipped, with the company owner issuing five refund checks.
• Tompkins previously faced state ethics fines in 2015 and a 2023 civil penalty for separate misconduct, drawing renewed scrutiny to his tenure since 2013.