By Julie Manganis
The Salem News
PEABODY, Mass. — A Middlesex County correctional officer from Peabody has been charged with stealing more than $6,000 from inmates at the Billerica House of Correction by transferring the money in their “canteen” accounts to debit cards that he would then use for himself.
Ronald Moloney, 50, of Peabody, pleaded not guilty Monday in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of larceny of more than $1,200 and filing a false report by a public employee.
Prosecutors in Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office say Moloney used his access to the inmate funds to issue 101 different debit cards with a total value of $6,229.62.
Canteen accounts are funds that inmates in jails and prisons can use to purchase items like snacks, toiletries and other personal items from a commissary in the facility. They’re often funded with money provided by family members of inmates. When there are funds left after an inmate is released, the remaining balance is put onto a debit card and given to the inmate.
The scheme unraveled last June, prosecutors say, when an inmate who was being transferred to another facility asked for his canteen account to be transferred to the new facility as well.
It was soon discovered that the inmate’s funds had already been placed on a debit card in May and that the funds were already spent.
With that inmate still in custody, unable to receive or use the debit card anywhere, Moloney was asked about the situation.
Moloney allegedly wrote a report saying he had “mistakenly credited the money to a debit card for another inmate,” prosecutors said in a press release.
That turned out not to be true, and that the other inmate had never received funds.
That triggered an investigation into all of the debit cards issued by Moloney during 2019, a total of 93 cards, as well as eight cards processed by another employee and handled by Moloney, which were used by Moloney, prosecutors say.
The cards were issued between March and June. Investigators learned that Moloney had targeted dormant accounts belonging to inmates who had been released.
Moloney was indicted on Dec. 16 by a Middlesex grand jury and appeared for arraignment Monday in response to a summons. He was not arrested.
Moloney’s attorney, Robert Saltzman, did not immediately return a call for comment on Tuesday.
Moloney has been suspended from his $66,603 a year job without pay.
Judge Rosemary Connolly allowed Moloney to remain free on personal recognizance, with conditions that include no contact with potential witnesses, including co-workers.
He is due back in court on Jan. 17 for a pre-trial conference.
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©2019 The Salem News (Beverly, Mass.)