Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott, who promotes himself online as a public speaker and “mentor” to real estate investors, unlawfully used tens of thousands of dollars from his campaign money to further his business interests, including paying for consultants and “teleprompter software,” state regulators said Monday.
McDermott will pay the state more than $36,300 from his personal and campaign accounts under an agreement released by the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
State regulators said McDermott, a Quincy Democrat, spent $31,705 out of his campaign to bolster his “personal business future” between August 2022 and the end of the last year, violating state campaign finance law. He also spent another $5,400 to pay for a 2024 fund-raiser for a nonprofit he created, Norfolk Sheriff’s Office Cares, which regulators said also isn’t allowed.
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McDermott, who did not respond to a request for comment, said in a statement included in the agreement that the spending was intended for “legitimate political purposes,” but that he opted to settle the allegations in the “spirit of compliance and transparency.”
He is at least the third Massachusetts county sheriff to be accused of breaking the law over the last year. Unlike others, McDermott has not been criminally charged, and under his agreement with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance, officials said they would not refer him to Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office. But it means the last three presidents of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association have now faced accusations of misusing campaign funds, drunken driving, or extorting a cannabis company, quickly shifting their oft-overlooked political office into the spotlight.
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Elected officials and candidates can use campaign cash to further their “political future” as long as it’s not primarily for personal use. But state regulators said McDermott violated state law because the various consultants and companies were hired to help McDermott personally or his real estate company, McDermott Strategic Enterprises LLC — not his campaign.
McDermott had dissolved the real estate company in 2021, though regulators said invoices that McDermott provided to them for his campaign’s spending were — “albeit incomplete” — either addressed to the LLC or McDermott directly.
Among his largest expenses was a $12,961 payment to 10X Stages for what McDermott described in campaign filings as “software to organize speaking engagements.”
The $37,000 in unlawful spending that the Office of Campaign and Political Finance identified was significant, state officials said. Since August 2022 — a few months before McDermott won his first full term in office — his campaign has spent roughly $103,000. That means roughly $1 of every $3 in that span has been used “primarily to pay personal expenses,” according to state regulators.
McDermott has raised just $15,200 in that same timeframe.
In his lengthy statement included in the agreement, McDermott said that he’s regularly invited to speak to local investment groups and other organizations on real estate matters and that he used his personal social media accounts “as a hook to attract conversation with these groups.” On his LinkedIn profile, he describes himself as a “personal development coach,” entrepreneur, and a real estate investor.
But McDermott said he’s never accepted any stipends for an appearance and he viewed the speaking engagements “as additional opportunities to gain political supporters for future political aspirations.”
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He said his intent throughout was to “apply these resources toward my political future.”
“The reality of modern campaigning is that the tools and platforms most effective in reaching constituents often originate in the business, leadership, or entrepreneurial space,” he said, adding that he was trying to “modernize campaign operations through advanced outreach tools, communication strategies, and volunteer training programs [—] not to serve personal business interests.“
“That said,” he added, “I fully understand the dual-use implications, and accept that some expenditures can reasonably be interpreted as overlapping with professional or personal pursuits.”
A spokesperson for McDermott’s office declined to comment on the “campaign-related matter.” McDermott did not respond to a message left at a phone number listed in his campaign records.
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McDermott will have to make a “personal payment” of $7,500 to the state by Oct. 1, while his campaign will be required to pay $28,881 in installments. Campaign reports show that McDermott had a little more than $1,500 in his account at the end of August.
McDermott is a former Norfolk County register of probate and previously served three terms on the Quincy City Council. He first won the Norfolk sheriff’s seat in 2020 when he defeated Jerry McDermott — of no relation — a Democrat-turned-Republican and former Boston city councilor whom then-governor Charlie Baker had appointed to complete the term of Michael Bellotti.
The allegations against Patrick McDermott — the current president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association, which advocates for the state’s 14 elected sheriffs — add to the list of county law enforcement leaders who’ve faced legal trouble of late.
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Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, the association’s current vice president and immediate past president, was charged with drunken driving last fall. He later admitted prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him and had his case continued without a finding under a plea.
Last month, Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, another past president of the association, was arrested and accused by federal prosecutors of extorting a cannabis company.
He later agreed to “step away” from his post at the request of Governor Maura Healey and Campbell, according to their offices.
Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.