A former city official from Quincy, Massachusetts admitted in federal court that he carried out a scheme to steal public funds for personal use, including paying for a framed self-portrait, hundreds of pounds of steak tips, a music studio recording session and even a car. Thomas F. Clasby Jr., 61, of Fitchburg, pleaded guilty in Boston to charges of embezzlement, mail fraud, wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property. The plea was entered before U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris, who scheduled sentencing for June 17, 2026. Clasby had previously been indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2025.

Clasby served as director of the Quincy Department of Elder Services from around 1999 until April 2024, overseeing programs intended to support older residents in the community. Prosecutors say that beginning in 2019 he began abusing the city’s purchasing system to secretly funnel municipal money toward his own personal expenses and to obtain cash. According to court filings, Clasby arranged for the city to pay $8,950 to a recording studio so he could produce music recordings of himself singing. He also directed payments totaling $2,236 to food vendors for roughly 153 pounds of bourbon steak tips, purchased a Toyota Prius using $4,800 in city funds and spent $1,658 on a signed, lacquered, mounted and framed portrait of himself.

The scheme also involved a consulting company in New York owned by a friend of Clasby’s. Authorities say Clasby arranged for the city to issue more than $38,000 in payments to the company even though it never provided services to any city department. After receiving the checks, Clasby’s friend allegedly cashed them and handed the money back to him in person. Investigators say those exchanges took place at locations including a rest stop in Framingham, Massachusetts, a ferry terminal in Bridgeport, Connecticut and the friend’s apartment in New York.

Prosecutors also say that starting in June 2021 Clasby began taking the majority of cash receipts generated by Elder Services programs operating out of the Kennedy Center in Quincy, diverting money that should have gone to city programs serving older residents.

Clasby now faces significant potential penalties under federal law. The embezzlement charge carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, while mail and wire fraud charges can each bring sentences of up to 20 years. The interstate transportation of stolen property charge also carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years. Each charge also allows for up to three years of supervised release and fines of up to $250,000. The final sentence will be determined by a federal judge using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and applicable statutes when Clasby returns to court in June.

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