Former Stoughton Water Department Employee Sentenced for Tampering With Drinking Water

BOSTON - A former Stoughton Water Department employee was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for tampering with the Stoughton drinking water supply.

Robert J. Bullock, Sr., 60, of Brockton, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper to a period of time-served (approximately one day) to be followed by three years of supervised release. The government recommended a sentence of one year and one day in prison. In March 2025, Bullock pleaded guilty to one count of tampering with a water system. Bullock was indicted by a federal grand jury in March 2024.

Bullock is a former employee of the Water Department in Stoughton. On the evening of Nov. 29, 2022, Bullock went into one of the Water Department's pumping stations and turned off the pump that introduces chlorine into drinking water. As a result, insufficiently disinfected water was introduced into the drinking water system.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Boston Division; and Kathryn Rivera, Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Environmental Protection Agency, Criminal Investigation Division in Boston made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Massachusetts State Police and the Stoughton and Brockton Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Tolkoff of the Criminal Division prosecuted the case.