Couple allegedly sold town-owned equipment for personal profit and steered town work to their private automotive business
The Enforcement Division of the State Ethics Commission has filed Orders to Show Cause today alleging that former Leyden Police Chief Daniel Galvis and former Leyden Police Captain Gilda Galvis violated the conflict of interest law by selling Town equipment for their private gain, contracting to repair Town vehicles for profit through their co-owned auto shop, and other actions implicating self-dealing and misuse of their official positions. The two Orders separately initiate adjudicatory proceedings against Daniel Galvis and Gilda Galvis, who are a married couple.
The Orders to Show Cause allege that:
- As Leyden Police Chief, Daniel Galvis obtained surplus equipment and vehicles for the Police Department. The couple then falsely reported the sale of two trucks from the town to Daniel Galvis, with Gilda Galvis, as Police Captain, transferring the titles to her husband in his private capacity. Daniel Galvis sold the trucks and other town equipment obtained through the program in online auctions for a total of $17,050, which the couple kept for themselves. In addition, Daniel Galvis kept other town equipment at the Galvis home and failed to return it after his employment with the Police Department ended.
- As Leyden Emergency Management Director, Daniel Galvis determined the amount and timing of stipends to himself using funding Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant provided to the town via the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. He directed Gilda Galvis to complete his stipend requests, which the Leyden Select Board approved. These stipends totaled more than $12,600 over an approximately five-year period
- Between 2014 and 2022, Leyden paid DJ’s Auto, the Galvises’ automotive repair company, approximately $8,900 for work on town vehicles, including approximately $1,500 for work on Police Department vehicles. As Police Chief, Daniel Galvis determined which Police Department vehicles needed work. He submitted payment invoices to the town on behalf of DJ’s Auto. As Police Captain, Gilda Galvis reviewed and processed DJ’s Auto invoices submitted to the Police Department.
- Gilda Galvis also worked for a local care dealership and served on its Board of Directors. The Police Department engaged the dealership to perform vehicle inspections and repairs that DJ’s Auto did not handle. As an employee of the dealership, Gilda Galvis submitted invoices for the Police Department work and, as Police Captain, reviewed and processed invoices from the dealership.
- Each year since 1993, Daniel Galvis, as Police Chief, increased pay rates for all patrol officers and superior officers, including his spouse.
The Orders to Show Cause further allege the Galvises’ actions violated several prohibitions of the conflict of interest law. First, municipal employees may not participate as such in matters in which they, their immediate family, or private employer have a financial interest. Second, public employees may not use or attempt to use their official positions to obtain valuable privileges or benefits to which they are not entitled. Finally, municipal employees may not have a financial interest in a contract made by the municipality, act as agent for anyone else in connection to a matter in which the town is a party or receive compensation from anyone other than the town in relation to a matter in which the town is a party.
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 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.