BOSTON, Mass. — A former employee of the Stoughton Water Department was sentenced Thursday in federal court for tampering with the town’s drinking water supply by disabling its chlorination system, federal prosecutors announced.
Robert J. Bullock Sr., 60, of Brockton, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper to time served — approximately one day — followed by three years of supervised release. Bullock had pleaded guilty in March to one count of tampering with a public water system.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office had recommended a sentence of one year and one day in prison.
According to court records, on the evening of November 29, 2022, Bullock entered one of the town’s water pumping stations and manually shut off the pump responsible for introducing chlorine into the drinking water system. As a result, water that had not been properly disinfected was allowed to enter the municipal supply.
Bullock was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024 and admitted to the offense a year later.
The investigation was led by the FBI’s Boston Division and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police, and the Stoughton and Brockton Police Departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Tolkoff.
Bullock’s actions directly compromised water safety by disabling disinfection at a municipal facility.