Trooper alleges Worcester DA complicit in judge’s daughter case
By James F. Russell, Correspondent
Posted Feb 20, 2018 at 4:03 PM
Updated Feb 20, 2018 at 8:41 PM
Documents filed Tuesday in federal court in Boston allege Worcester
District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. was part of a “nefarious plot” to
“destroy official documents” in the case of a local judge’s daughter
arrested in October.
The documents allege the DA’s office attempted to replace an existing court document - a police report used to prosecute the woman - with a revised version, but was rebuffed in Central District Court by acting Clerk Magistrate Brendan T. Keenan, who allegedly advised Mr. Early’s office that action would be illegal.
Two troopers have filed civil rights lawsuits alleging that the state police commander at the time, Col. Richard McKeon, and others engaged in “corruption that chills to the bone” to protect the reputation of the judge’s daughter. The colonel, who has since resigned, filed a motion seeking to dismiss the suits. Tuesday, formal opposition to that motion was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of the troopers, Ryan Sceviour and Ali Rei.
Alli Bibaud, whose father, Judge Timothy Bibaud, is first justice at Dudley District Court, was arrested by Trooper Sceviour on Oct. 16; Trooper Rei assisted.
To avoid a conflict of interest, the Worcester court ordered the Bibaud case transferred to Middlesex County.
Prior to serving on the bench, Judge Bibaud was a senior prosecutor in the Worcester district attorney’s office. His daughter is also a former employee of the Worcester DA’s office.
The troopers allege that the former commander broke the law and committed numerous felonies by ordering police reports altered and destroyed.
Col. McKeon denies wrongdoing. Major Susan Anderson, who is also a defendant, also denies wronging.
The Sceviour motion filed Tuesday alleges that Mr. Early’s office was complicit in a scheme intended to remove from a police report information in which Ms. Bibaud, the report states, said she engaged in sexual acts to obtain heroin and offered sex to the trooper in exchange for leniency.
Mr. Early is not a defendant in either lawsuit.
“When they were unable to achieve their conspiratorial purpose because (1) the plaintiff refused to change the report without noting that it had been revised, and (2) the clerk of the court refused to swap the reports because such conduct is illegal ... the Worcester First Assistant District Attorney (Jeffrey Travers) – without even notifying the criminal defendant or her counsel, made an oral motion to redact the original, impounded report the very day before the case was transferred from Worcester County due to a conflict of interest that had already been recognized by that court,” the Sceviour motion says.
“Curiously, on the scheduled day of the arraignment, Tuesday, October 17, 2017, a lawyer was appointed to represent the criminal defendant, even though the defendant was not there.”
A spokesman for Mr. Early released a statement Tuesday saying, “While this matter is under review by the Attorney General and is still in civil litigation, the DA’s office will not comment.”
Officials from the Massachusetts Trial Court have also declined to comment.
“Notwithstanding the questionability of the court impoundment, at the
time the plaintiff was disciplined and ordered to remove statements
from his report, the court had done nothing but impound the report due
to alleged ‘pretrial publicity,’ ” the Sceviour motion says.
“Moreover, the court never determined that the report contained ‘inappropriate and irrelevant material;’ rather, in a shocking move, the Worcester DA’s office moved to redact the report after the fix was already in,” the motion alleges.
The Trial Court has not explained why Central District Court judges in Worcester approved motions and clerk magistrates filed them for hearings in Worcester, despite concerns about a possible conflict of interest.
A separate motion was also filed Tuesday by Trooper Rei’s lawyer, opposing Major Anderson’s motion to dismiss her case.
The complaint alleges the major committed crimes and ordered the trooper to commit them as well - to destroy and alter numerous records and reports the trooper had completed involving the Bibaud arrest.
“Major Anderson, a superior officer in a paramilitary governmental organization entrusted with enforcing the law, gave the plaintiff a direct order to commit and participate in multiple felonies, as part of an overarching and far-reaching conspiracy that Major Anderson told the plaintiff extended to top officials in the State Police, the office of the Worcester County District Attorney, and the Secretary of Public Safety of the Commonwealth. The conspiracy was hatched in order to bestow unwarranted favorable treatment on an accused individual because she is a former employee of the district court and is the daughter of a Worcester County District Court judge,” the Rei motion says.
Major Anderson’s motion to dismiss says that since Trooper Rei was never actually disciplined, there is no basis for her suit.
Trooper Rei’s opposition motion alleges that argument is irrelevant.
A footnote from the Sceviour motion filed on Tuesday states, “According to Major Anderson, District Attorney Joseph Early, Lt. Col. Daniel Risteen, and Secretary of Public Safety Daniel Bennett participated in the conspiracy. The plaintiff expects that discovery will lead to the naming of additional members of the conspiracy.”
Gov. Charlie Baker, who publicly rebuked Col. McKeon’s involvement in the Bibaud case, has stated that Mr. Bennett had no part in the alleged scheme.
FULL COVERAGE OF STATE POLICE CONTROVERSY
The documents allege the DA’s office attempted to replace an existing court document - a police report used to prosecute the woman - with a revised version, but was rebuffed in Central District Court by acting Clerk Magistrate Brendan T. Keenan, who allegedly advised Mr. Early’s office that action would be illegal.
Two troopers have filed civil rights lawsuits alleging that the state police commander at the time, Col. Richard McKeon, and others engaged in “corruption that chills to the bone” to protect the reputation of the judge’s daughter. The colonel, who has since resigned, filed a motion seeking to dismiss the suits. Tuesday, formal opposition to that motion was filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of the troopers, Ryan Sceviour and Ali Rei.
Alli Bibaud, whose father, Judge Timothy Bibaud, is first justice at Dudley District Court, was arrested by Trooper Sceviour on Oct. 16; Trooper Rei assisted.
To avoid a conflict of interest, the Worcester court ordered the Bibaud case transferred to Middlesex County.
Prior to serving on the bench, Judge Bibaud was a senior prosecutor in the Worcester district attorney’s office. His daughter is also a former employee of the Worcester DA’s office.
The troopers allege that the former commander broke the law and committed numerous felonies by ordering police reports altered and destroyed.
Col. McKeon denies wrongdoing. Major Susan Anderson, who is also a defendant, also denies wronging.
The Sceviour motion filed Tuesday alleges that Mr. Early’s office was complicit in a scheme intended to remove from a police report information in which Ms. Bibaud, the report states, said she engaged in sexual acts to obtain heroin and offered sex to the trooper in exchange for leniency.
Mr. Early is not a defendant in either lawsuit.
“When they were unable to achieve their conspiratorial purpose because (1) the plaintiff refused to change the report without noting that it had been revised, and (2) the clerk of the court refused to swap the reports because such conduct is illegal ... the Worcester First Assistant District Attorney (Jeffrey Travers) – without even notifying the criminal defendant or her counsel, made an oral motion to redact the original, impounded report the very day before the case was transferred from Worcester County due to a conflict of interest that had already been recognized by that court,” the Sceviour motion says.
“Curiously, on the scheduled day of the arraignment, Tuesday, October 17, 2017, a lawyer was appointed to represent the criminal defendant, even though the defendant was not there.”
A spokesman for Mr. Early released a statement Tuesday saying, “While this matter is under review by the Attorney General and is still in civil litigation, the DA’s office will not comment.”
Officials from the Massachusetts Trial Court have also declined to comment.
“Moreover, the court never determined that the report contained ‘inappropriate and irrelevant material;’ rather, in a shocking move, the Worcester DA’s office moved to redact the report after the fix was already in,” the motion alleges.
The Trial Court has not explained why Central District Court judges in Worcester approved motions and clerk magistrates filed them for hearings in Worcester, despite concerns about a possible conflict of interest.
A separate motion was also filed Tuesday by Trooper Rei’s lawyer, opposing Major Anderson’s motion to dismiss her case.
The complaint alleges the major committed crimes and ordered the trooper to commit them as well - to destroy and alter numerous records and reports the trooper had completed involving the Bibaud arrest.
“Major Anderson, a superior officer in a paramilitary governmental organization entrusted with enforcing the law, gave the plaintiff a direct order to commit and participate in multiple felonies, as part of an overarching and far-reaching conspiracy that Major Anderson told the plaintiff extended to top officials in the State Police, the office of the Worcester County District Attorney, and the Secretary of Public Safety of the Commonwealth. The conspiracy was hatched in order to bestow unwarranted favorable treatment on an accused individual because she is a former employee of the district court and is the daughter of a Worcester County District Court judge,” the Rei motion says.
Major Anderson’s motion to dismiss says that since Trooper Rei was never actually disciplined, there is no basis for her suit.
A footnote from the Sceviour motion filed on Tuesday states, “According to Major Anderson, District Attorney Joseph Early, Lt. Col. Daniel Risteen, and Secretary of Public Safety Daniel Bennett participated in the conspiracy. The plaintiff expects that discovery will lead to the naming of additional members of the conspiracy.”
Gov. Charlie Baker, who publicly rebuked Col. McKeon’s involvement in the Bibaud case, has stated that Mr. Bennett had no part in the alleged scheme.
FULL COVERAGE OF STATE POLICE CONTROVERSY
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