BOSTON —

Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins faces federal extortion charges involving the purchase of an equity interest in a Boston-based cannabis company, United States Attorney Leah Foley announced.

Tompkins, 67, of Boston, was arrested Friday morning in the Southern District of Florida, Foley's office announced. He was indicted on two counts of extortion under color of official right.

Tompkins, who was first appointed sheriff in 2013, has served successive six-year terms. He leads a department of approximately 1,000 employees with correctional facilities in Boston at the House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail.

According to Foley, an unidentified cannabis company sought to open a dispensary in Boston in 2019 and agreed that the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department would h

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