Former Melrose Alderman Charged With Attempted Extortion and Bribery

(Editor's note: This article was updated on Tuesday, July 13 at 3:55 p.m.)

A former Melrose Board of Aldermen President and state representative candidate was arrested today on charges that he took a $3,000 bribe to secure a liquor license for a convicted felon who sought to open a restaurant in Everett, and offered to sell illegal video poker machines to the restaurant, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Arthur Hitchman, 39, was arraigned in Malden District Court this afternoon on charges of attempted extortion, bribery, solicitation to commit a felony and filing a false offical report. Hitchman is an investigator for the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC), which regulates all liquor licenses in the state. He was ordered held on $3,000 cash bail with the conditions that he is to have no firearms and must stay away from the victim.

Hitchman has been suspended from his job without pay, ABCC Chairwoman Kim Gainsboro said in a press release provided by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. According to a database of state salaries compiled by the Boston Herald, Hitchman earned $120,183 in 2008 for his job as an ABCC investigator.

A message was left by Melrose Patch on an answering machine at a Melrose number listed for Hitchman seeking comment on the charges.

According to the DA's office, Hitchman contacted a man who wanted to open a restaurant in Everett, but could not secure a liquor license because he was a convicted felon and, therefore, planned to run the business through the name of a female relative.

Jessica Venezia Pastore, spokeswoman for the DA's office, said she could not provide the identity of the man or the restaurant because "we don't want to identify our cooperating witness."

Hitchman knew about the man's criminal history and the plan to run the business under a different name and approached him, telling the would-be restaurateur that he would get him a liquor license in the female relative's name for $3,000, requiring the payment be made to him in cash.

On May 18, an undercover Massachusetts State Trooper, posing as the female relative's husband, met Hitchman and handed him $3,000 in cash, which Hitchman accepted, the DA's office alleged.

The investigation conducted by the State Police Special Service Section, State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, and attorneys from the Middlesex District Attorney's PACT Unit, uncovered numerous conversations between the undercover State Trooper and Hitchman, the DA's office said. In those conversations, Hitchman admitted that he had made changes to the affidavit filed by the female relative in order to ensure the license would be approved by the ABCC.

Hitchman also offered unprompted to sell the undercover State Trooper illegal video poker machines and suggested that they could be used to generate illegal revenues at the restaurant, the DA's office said.

Hitchman was previously Melrose Ward 2 Alderman for eight years and served as president of the Board of Alderman in 2002, when he launched an unsuccessful bid as a Republican candidate for state representative and lost to incumbent Democrat Mike Festa. Three years later, Hitchman lost his bid for one of the four Melrose Alderman at-Large seats.

His next court date is Wednesday, Aug. 11 for a probable cause hearing.