By Rebecca Danvers

Former Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Stephen Gilpatric, age 35, of Somerville, has pleaded guilty to charges he violated conflict of interest laws in connection with misuse of his position, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. He traded information in exchange for oxycodone pills.

Gilpatric pleaded guilty on Friday in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of Unlawful Gratuity, Unlawfully Communicating Criminal Offender Record Information, and Receiving Unlawful Compensation. Judge Kimberly Budd sentenced Gilpatric to two-and-a-half years in the House of Correction, suspended for five years. Under the conditions of probation, Gilpatric will be subject to random drug testing, drug evaluation and treatment as warranted by the evaluation, and will be prohibited from being employed with or for any law enforcement personnel or agency.

Gilpatric served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office (MDAO) from November 2007 until October 2014, when the AG’s Office began an investigation. He previously worked within the MDAO’s Public Protection, Anti-terrorism, Corruption and Technology (PACT) Unit, where he handled a variety of specialized prosecutions, including public corruption, white collar crime and major narcotics cases. The AG’s Office received the full cooperation of the MDAO throughout the investigation.

The investigation revealed that in October 2011, Gilpatric provided his drug supplier with information that he obtained through his position as an Assistant District Attorney in exchange for drugs. He gave this drug supplier sensitive information about another man, including a Board of Probation record, a police report, a photograph, and other personal identifying information, in exchange for oxycodone pills.

Gilpatric also provided additional confidential law enforcement information—a criminal record and an organizational chart of a drug ring—to this same drug supplier and his brother, hoping to receive pills in exchange.

Current Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan had this to say about the matter: “While it may be true that addictions lead people to make bad decisions and that addictions occur in people in all walks of life, people who have the privilege of serving as Assistant District Attorneys hold positions of trust and have no excuse for releasing confidential information. Every Assistant District Attorney in this office is fully aware that in no situation, under no circumstances, and under no amount of personal stress, may he or she release confidential information to anyone not authorized to receive it.”