Dighton police chief placed on leave after alleged involvement in insider trading scam

DIGHTON, Mass. (WLNE) — The Dighton police chief was placed on administrative leave after his arrest for his alleged involvement in an insider trading scheme, the department announced Thursday.

Following the announcement of the chief’s arrest, the Dighton Board of Selectmen made the unanimous decision to place Chief Shawn Cronin, 43, on administrative leave.

The board then voted to name Administrative Sergeant George Nichols to the position of Acting Police Chief.

Following Nichols’ appointment, Nichols made the decision to suspend Reserve Officer Joseph Dupont, who was also allegedly involved in the scheme.

According to investigators, Dupont was a vice president for a pharmaceutical company that was about to be acquired by another company and shared that information to Cronin prior to the announcement being made public.

Prosecutors further allege Cronin shared the insider information and purchased stock for the company Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc. in the days before it was acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Documents said Cronin worked with Kaplan in creating strategic trading strategies to maximize Cronin’s insider trading profits, who would then later “aggressively” buy Portola shares.

According to federal prosecutors, the group collectively made more than $2.2 million in illegal profits by trading stocks based on confidential information from their employers.

The group is also facing charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the reported insider trading scheme.