Officers file suit against Cabral

Embattled sheriff said to strike back for their activism

By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff  |  August 12, 2005 

Ten officers at the Nashua Street jail filed a federal lawsuit yesterday against Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, alleging that she stripped them of their deputy sheriff positions because they are union activists and supported her political opponent.

The officers assert that Cabral retaliated against them for backing Stephen J. Murphy, an at-large member of the Boston City Council, in last year's race for Suffolk County sheriff, which Cabral won by a solid margin.

Cabral's decision to take away the officers' badges seven months later meant that they no longer had police powers beyond the jail. Those powers allowed them to earn from $10,000 to $40,000 a year by working private details, according to their lawyer. 

''It's a very real punitive act," said Boston lawyer Douglas I. Louison, who filed the suit in US District Court in Boston on behalf of the officers, describing them as avid supporters of Murphy's bid for sheriff. 

Louison said Cabral's action was ''transparently retaliatory," because she had reappointed all 10 officers as deputy sheriffs in January 2003 and they had remained good employees since.

Cabral is meanwhile being investigated by a federal grand jury over whether she lied about the firing of a longtime nurse at the Suffolk County House of Correction. 

She is also the target of a series of civil lawsuits brought by former employees.

ccording to the suit filed yesterday, the officers received a letter from one of Cabral's superintendents in April saying they were losing their positions because they were not ''members in good standing," but offered no additional explanation. 

Steve Tompkins, a spokesman for Cabral, said yesterday that he couldn't discuss why the 10 officers had been stripped of their deputy sheriff status because of the pending lawsuit, which he said had not yet been received by the Sheriff's Department. 

But he called the claims of retaliation ''absolutely untrue." 

''All commissioned officers serve at the pleasure of the sheriff," Tompkins said. ''The sheriff does not have to deputize any of these guys if she doesn't want to, so they're suing to get something back that the sheriff doesn't have to give them." 

Tompkins said that the Sheriff's Department employs about 900 officers and that nearly 400 are commissioned as deputy sheriffs, meaning that they carry badges, have the authority to arrest, and enjoy other police powers that extend to other jurisdictions in the state. 

The sheriff also deputizes roughly 400 other officers outside the jail system, most of whom are police officers working at colleges in Suffolk County. 

Cabral, who took office in December 2002, was chosen by former acting governor Jane Swift to overhaul the Sheriff's Department, which faced allegations of abuse of inmates by jail guards under her predecessor, Richard J. Rouse. She won the election last year after switching from the Republican to the Democratic Party, and her victory made her the first African-American woman to hold countywide office in Suffolk County. 

The US attorney's office is investigating whether Cabral lied to a federal grand jury about the firing of a longtime nurse who worked at the Suffolk County House of Correction and provided information to the FBI about inmate abuse by guards, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. 

The nurse, Sheila J. Porter, filed a civil suit in federal court last year alleging that Cabral fired her for being an FBI informant. Cabral's office contends that Porter, who worked for a private company that provided medical services to inmates, was barred from the jail for violating ''departmental policy and contractual obligations." 

Two weeks ago, Cabral was slapped with another federal civil lawsuit, this one from her former top training officer, Martin Michelman, who asserts that he was wrongfully fired from his job as a deputy superintendent last year because he expressed concern about whether the department was prepared for the Democratic National Convention. 

Tompkins declined to comment on the Michelman suit or the federal investigation. 

Yesterday's lawsuit was filed by David Bergeron, John Grennon, Lorne Lynch, John Barnes, John Ellis, Timothy Turley, Al Moscone, William Peneau, Eric Dilibero, and Paul Giglio. 

All of the officers are involved to some degree in union activities, according to the suit. Louison said the Jail Officers and Employees of Suffolk County, the union to which most of them belong, endorsed Murphy and has been public in its battles with Cabral. 

Bergeron, a secretary for the union, held a Murphy sign outside Holy Name School in West Roxbury during the primary last September as Cabral was campaigning there. 

''The union has been aggressive in trying to negotiate a contract, and they saw an opportunity to support Murphy to change things," Louison said. ''And when Cabral got reelected, she plain and simply retaliated against those in the union." 

Louison said that the officers had received commendations for their work and that others who had been disciplined and didn't support Murphy or the union continue to serve as deputies. 

None of the officers, according to the suit, were subject to discipline between the time Cabral reappointed them as deputy sheriffs in 2003 and the time she yanked their badges in April. 

Turley, however, was given a 20-day suspension in January 2004 but later successfully won his pay back after a hearing. The case involved an allegation of excessive force, which Louison said had been refuted, and is now on appeal before the state Civil Service Commission. 

Moscone, who is president of the superior officers' union, is appealing a letter of reprimand he received in December after he filed a written report about a Cabral supporter for sleeping on a paid private detail. 

Officers sue Suffolk County sheriff

The Associated Press 

BOSTON— Ten officers at the Suffolk County jail sued Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral in federal court on Thursday, claiming they were stripped of their deputy sheriff positions because they are union activists who supported her opponent in last year's election.

Cabral's decision to take away their badges essentially removed their police powers beyond the Nashua Street jail, costing them up to $40,000 a year in private detail work, their lawyer said. 

The move was "transparently retaliatory," said Douglas I. Louison, the lawyer for the 10 officers. 

Cabral had reappointed all 10 officers as deputy sheriffs in January 2003 and none of them had been disciplined between their reappointment and when their badges were revoked, he said. 

Their badges were taken after they backed Boston City Councilor Stephen J. Murphy in last year's Democratic primary, which Cabral won with 60 percent of the vote. 

The officers received a letter from one of Cabral's superintendents in April saying they were losing their positions because they were not "members in good standing," without offering additional explanation, according to the suit. 

A spokesman for Cabral said the retaliation claims are "absolutely untrue." 

"All commissioned officers serve at the pleasure of the sheriff," spokesman Steve Tompkins said. "The sheriff does not have to deputize any of these guys if she doesn't want to, so they're suing to get something back that the sheriff doesn't have to give them." 

Tompkins said he could not discuss why the 10 officers had been stripped of their deputy sheriff status. 

The department has about 900 officers, about 400 of whom are commissioned as deputy sheriffs, meaning they have police powers, including the authority to arrest, Tompkins said.

All 10 of the officers named in the lawsuit are involved in union activities to some degree, Louison said. The union to which most of them belong supported Murphy last year. 

"The union has been aggressive in trying to negotiate a contract, and they saw an opportunity to support Murphy to change things," Louison said. "And when Cabral got re-elected, she plain and simply retaliated against those in the union." 

In addition to losing their deputy's badges, the officers were also transferred to less desirable shifts that often meant working nights and weekends, according to the suit. 

The suit was filed by David Bergeron, John Grennon, Lorne Lynch, John Barnes, John Ellis, Timothy Turley, Al Moscone, William Peneu, Eric Dilibero and Paul Giglio. 

The suit is the latest in a series of legal troubles for Cabral, the state's first female sheriff and the first black woman to hold countywide office in Suffolk County. She was appointed to the position in 2002 by former interim Gov. Jane Swift to overhaul a department plagued by allegations of inmate abuse.

The U.S. attorney's office is investigating whether Cabral lied to a federal grand jury about the firing of a jailhouse nurse who was reportedly cooperating with an FBI investigation into inmate abuse. The nurse sued Cabral, claiming she was fired for being an FBI informant. Two weeks ago, the department's former top training officer sued Cabral, claiming he was fired last year because he expressed concern about whether the department was properly prepared for the Democratic National Convention.

Hero killed in pub clash

As printed in the Boston Herald

By Laurel J. Sweet, Franci Richardson, Jessica Fargen and Peter Gelzinis

Sunday, March 20, 2005 - Updated: 12:54 PM EST

A heroic Suffolk County deputy sheriff trying to keep the peace in a landmark Charlestown bar was stabbed to death yesterday morning by a mentally disturbed hood who'd been out of jail only 22 days, authorities and sources said.  Police captured Francis Xavier ``Kicker'' Lang, 31 - son of Deborah Lang, beloved by townies as ``the mayor of Charlestown'' - hiding out at a friend's house on Elm Street after a 16-hour manhunt by Boston police. ``Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen,'' slain Sgt. Richard T. Dever's father, Bill Dever, told the Herald through tears. ``(Richard) was in the wrong place at the wrong time.''

    ``Richard Dever was an exemplary officer,'' said Sheriff Andrea Cabral, her voice quivering. ``His absence will be felt very deeply. He will be missed.''  Dever, 35, was allegedly murdered by Lang outside Sullivan's Pub on Main Street around 12:20 a.m. ``I don't think he even knew he'd been stabbed,'' said a shell-shocked friend of Dever, who declined to give his name.

    Lang, also know to Dever's friend, had been barred from Sullivan's ``for a long time- for years,'' he said. ``He came in to try and get a drink. They wouldn't serve him.''  Sources said when Lang lost his temper, Dever tried to help get him out. What Dever got was a knife through the left side of his chest. Dever worked at the South Bay Correctional Facility where Lang was jailed several times since the early 1990s, but it was unclear if the two recognized each other. ``He stood out amongst inmates,'' a jail source said of Lang, infamous for his bad behavior. ``He was always in segregation. Think of the worst and that's him.''

     Sources said police searched Deborah Lang's triple-decker and found two large submarine sandwiches and hair dye they suspect was meant to aid his escape. His mother declined comment.

    Bill Dever said he was told his son didn't know that Lang had a knife when the fight broke out. ``I guess he just took out his frustrations on (Richard),'' Bill Dever said.  Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said Dever was found in the back of the bar, where he was carried by patrons trying to save his life. ``We're all incredibly saddened by the loss of this extremely professional young law enforcement officer,'' O'Toole said.

    ``He didn't deserve it, that's for sure,'' said Dever's friend, who attended a private gathering at Sullivan's yesterday in Dever's honor. ``The kid's a great kid. He had a lot of friends.''  Dever grew up in Dorchester and graduated from Don Bosco High School. He had been with the Sheriff's Department since 1991. Among the friends gathered to mourn him were the family of murdered state Trooper Mark Charbonnier, whose brother Steve, a Boston cop, Dever formerly roomed with. The Charbonniers knew the Langs, as well. ``Debbie is one of the nicest people I know - very involved with youth,'' said Pauline Charbonnier. ``She's a lifeguard at the Bunker Hill pool. I'm just shocked by all this.''

      Lang grew up a street tough in Charlestown and ``had an awful struggle with drugs,'' including PCP, as well as wild mood swings and depression, sources said. He spent much of his adult life in jail after pleading guilty to armed bank robbery in 1993 and violating his probation several times. He was released three weeks ago from federal prison after serving nearly five years on a charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

      The conditions of Lang's probation included mental health counseling and drug treatment. The federal judge thought seriously of banning him from Charlestown as a condition of his probation, a source said.  Dever is survived by his parents, two brothers, Brendan and Tim, and a sister, Sheila. ``(He) lived everyday to the fullest,'' said Tim Dever. ``He had more friends than anyone I know.''

FREE BRIEFLY, INMATE CUTS 2 OFFICERS WITH A PEN

Author (s):    Michael Levenson, Globe Correspondent Date: November 15, 2004 Page: B1 Section: Metro/Region

An inmate who broke open his cell door at a maximum-security prison Saturday night allegedly used a sharpened plastic pen to slash two correction officers, leaving one with a serious eye wound, authorities said yesterday.

The attack occurred about 9:45 p.m. on the Department Disciplinary Unit at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole, a facility with 120 cells where dangerous offenders who have histories of attacks behind bars are locked 23 hours a day and closely monitored. The inmate, whose name officials declined to release, broke open the door and slashed two officers who tried to restrain him, said Diane Wiffin, a Department of Correction spokeswoman. Several other officers then subdued the inmate.

Wiffin declined to say what type of weapon was used, but David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney's office, said the inmate had a sharpened pen. Inmates are allowed to write letters in their cells, Wiffin said.

One of the injured officers sustained several cuts and was treated at a local hospital and released, Wiffin said. A union official said the officer was in his first month on duty after graduating from the officer's academy. The other officer, a veteran, suffered a serious facial injury and remained hospitalized yesterday, Wiffin said.

After the attack, the inmate was locked in another cell, uninjured, Wiffin said. He has a history of attacking prison officers, as do many of the prisoners on his unit.

Originally convicted in 1988 of armed robbery and sentenced to nine to 10 years in state prison, the man was convicted again in 1997 for seriously assaulting two officers with a weapon at Cedar Junction. For that crime, he was sentenced to 36 to 40 years, Wiffin said, and confined to a cell on the disciplinary unit, where his access to telephones, outside visitors, and property were tightly controlled.

He had been ordered to remain in the unit for three more years and then serve the rest of his sentence in a standard cellblock, Wiffin said.

Following the attack, prison officials and engineers inspected the disciplinary unit's doors for faults and vulnerabilities, and the Norfolk district attorney's office launched a criminal investigation, with the help of State Police. As of 3 p.m. yesterday, Traub said no charges had been filed while the investigation continued.

Prison officials declined to comment on the officer's condition. But Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federated Union, which represents the officers, said the seriously injured officer underwent surgery yesterday at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary for a stab wound to the eye. Kenneway said the officer was at risk of losing his sight in that eye.

Kenneway reacted angrily after the attack, saying Cedar Junction officers had repeatedly complained to prison officials about inmates breaking open the solid metal doors on the disciplinary unit, either by kicking them or shoving them off their tracks.

While Wiffen said the problem with doors had been rectified, Kenneway said prison officials began to fix the problem this year but abandoned the job for lack of money. He said correction officials had a responsibility to seek more funds from the state, if they needed them, to secure the doors at Cedar Junction.

"It's very, very aggravating for us to report things, the way we're supposed to, and then things don't get done and an officer gets stabbed," Kenneway said. "They fixed the electrical aspect with the doors, but they never fixed the structural problem. I'm very upset. They need to be held accountable for their lack of action."

Kelly Nantel, another correction spokeswoman, said Cedar Junction officials had received complaints about the doors and had fixed them all quickly. She said money was never an issue. "Each and every issue that has been brought to the attention of management has been addressed," she said. "This situation is unique, and we have a team of engineers evaluating and inspecting every door in the unit."

Kenneway, whose union has often contested staffing and management issues with state prison officials, also said 12 officers should have been patrolling the unit at the time of the attack, though 10 were on duty. Nantel disputed that assessment, saying the prison superintendent is allowed to set officer levels and was satisfied with 10 officers at the time.

The attack, Nantel said, underscores the daily dangers faced by prison officers in high-security settings.

The last time a state correction officer was cut on duty was Aug. 20, when an inmate slashed an officer on the face with a razor at Bridgewater State Hospital.

At Cedar Junction, officers regularly check the doors, grates, windows, and walls for safety in the disciplinary unit, but with 23 hours behind bars every day, "inmates spend an exorbitant amount of time trying to find ways they can circumvent the system," Nantel said.

She said prison officials hoped to press charges against the inmate, once the investigation is completed.

Ex-captain faces embezzlement, drug charges

By John Ellement, Globe Staff  |  November 23, 2004

Yesterday was not a good day for Stephen M. Donnelly Jr., who until recently was a captain in the Middlesex County sheriff's department.

The 37-year-old Winthrop resident spent the morning in East Boston District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges that he sold small amounts of cocaine to undercover state troopers across the street from Winthrop High School. Donnelly faces additional charges because of his alleged proximity to a school.

Later in the day, Donnelly was accused of embezzling money from the sheriff's office when he worked there.

Mark Lawhorne, spokesman for Sheriff James V. DiPaola, said Donnelly kept some of the cash judgments he was supposed to collect for civil lawsuits.

"He retained some of that cash for his own purposes and tried to fake the logs, so to speak," Lawhorne said.

Donnelly's arrest last week on the drug charges capped a five-month investigation by Winthrop police, State Police assigned to the Suffolk district attorney's office, and the Middlesex County sheriff's department. Donnelly has worked in law enforcement for the past 16 years, prompting Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley to say yesterday that Donnelly ought to find a new line of work.

"This is clearly someone who should not be working in law enforcement and should not have access to weapons," Conley said, pointing out that police found three rifles and a handgun in Donnelly's apartment on Veterans Road in Winthrop.

Donnelly was licensed to own the weapons, Conley said. "This is a huge breach of trust," he said.

Conley said in an interview that there was no evidence that Donnelly had sold drugs to inmates in Middlesex County during his time with the sheriff's department.

Donnelly, whose former job paid him $880 a week, has fallen on hard financial times, particularly since DiPaola fired him Oct. 22 after an internal investigation found what Lawhorne called irregularities in the civil process office. Yesterday in East Boston, Donnelly could not afford his own lawyer. Milton lawyer Nitin Dalal was appointed to represent him.

Dalal persuaded Judge Paul Mahoney to let Donnelly stay out of view of news cameras at the East Boston courthouse. Mahoney set bail for Donnelly at $25,000 cash, an amount Donnelly could not post.

Natal said it was unfair to hold Donnelly. "The only reason he is being held is because he is from the sheriff's department," Natal said. "He's been cast in the worst possible light."

Donnelly is due back in East Boston District Court on the drug charges on Dec. 15.

Today, he is due in Cambridge District Court to face one count of larceny over $250. Middlesex prosecutors say that on Sept. 10, Donnelly pocketed $30,000 in cash from a Belmont business that had lost a civil lawsuit.

Donnelly has a history of financial problems. In 2002, he filed for personal bankruptcy, reporting about $19,000 in assets and $202,500 in debt, including $70,000 he owed to federal and state governments in income taxes, according to US Bankruptcy Court records.

State records show that Donnelly did not file income tax returns in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1988, and 1999, state Department of Revenue spokesman Timothy Connolly said yesterday.

Connolly said that may have been a bad decision by Donnelly, given that 70 percent of taxpayers get refunds each year.

Donnelly has also worked as an assistant harbormaster in Winthrop. But he was not reappointed to the $8-an-hour part-time job this summer at the request of Harbormaster Charles Famolare 3d, according to Richard DiMento, chairman of the Winthrop Board of Selectmen.

"It had nothing to do with this garbage," DiMento said, referring to the drug investigation and Donnelly's arrest. "He didn't show up for patrol duties . . . and the harbormaster didn't recommend that he be reappointed."

Meanwhile, Lawhorne said DiPaola has hired a national accounting firm, DeLoitte & Touche, to audit the books of the department's civil office.

The same office was at the heart of a federal corruption probe that landed former Middlesex sheriff John McGonigle in federal prison in the 1990s.

By Phillip C. Naslund
Friday, November 5, 2004

     In addition to Boston and New York fire and police, there will be teams from Suffolk Sheriffs, the Massachusetts State Police, DEA New York, Weymouth PD, Quincy PD, and the Vermont State Police.
 

It comes down to the cops
By Shimon Soferr/ Sitting In
Friday, October 8, 2004

as seen on  www.TownOnline.com

     In my line of work, I meet daily with incarcerated men and women who are doing time because of their antisocial behaviors and violent acts. Many of them have graduated from the juvenile into the adult system of criminal justice. What unites them now, as adults, is a profound animosity towards the system, and abysmal fear and hatred of police and other law enforcement agencies. The depth of these sentiments is discouraging, and the bleakness of their futures, filled with police, courts, parole and probation, is disheartening.
     Hate is rooted in fear, and violence is the behavioral culmination of both. In a society in which the victimized public expects a quick end to injustice through harsh means, fear and hate dominate the world of law enforcement. Thus, offenders hate and fear police, and the police hate and fear them. Both invest their time and efforts in outsmarting and defeating each other - and the "war" continues without any victories.
     It is, of course, important to create, provide or prolong 1,400 jobs for youths who otherwise might make the summer simmer, or to invest more in community corrections, restorative justice or faith-based initiatives. It is equally important to show our youths that the police are more interested in respecting the law through understanding it than in enforcing it through fighting them. When we allot additional time, effort and money to a more serious understanding of the partnership between youth and police, only then can reducing delinquency become more achievable.
     Unfortunately, this kind of thinking seems unavailable to us. So afraid we are of any large public assembly that we seem to lose our head and think of nothing but police measures in handling such symbols of democracy as the two recent conventions in Boston and New York City. So afraid we are of delinquents that our police now seem to resort to a military style of intelligence gathering in order to predict hostile movements, as if no other methods exist, as if the police are engaged in clandestine operations behind enemy lines.
     It can be plausibly argued that these are necessary steps in times of harrowing threats to our national livelihood. Such steps, however, may also be the advantageous outcome of a certain mindset that is no less threatening.
     Police conduct is a major factor in the distribution of democracy. It is possible that in cases where society has democratically wrung the joys of life from some people, their natural resentment of authority has turned into hostility against it. Social authority is represented and facilitated by the police, who are authorized to implement democracy through power. When power is undermined, it resorts to violence and to violent implements to restore itself.
     Thus we have an almost perpetual cycle of violent activities, as both sides attempt to gain the upper hand in the struggle for power. Unfortunately, this struggle has become a contest of violence against violence rather than an attempt to truly establish law and order. Though the police did not start this somewhat insane cycle, they certainly play a role in perpetuating it.
     Perhaps it is still possible to break out of this cycle, and, through a different approach to training, start a new direction. Without it, the war on criminals will continue to yield the same results without ever achieving peace.
     The reduction of violence depends not only on arresting violent people, but also on eliminating violent ideologies and discouraging violent sentiments. It depends on trying to save, not to scare, the not-yet lost, the not-yet hardened career criminals.
     Lamentably our schools are not yet equipped, and therefore not likely, to embark soon on educating toward such civility that would increase social cooperation and reduce the wish to get a break by breaking the law. Therefore, the police academy may be the place to start. Since we cannot expect much from nonthinking criminal minds, we must begin to expect much more from police officers who can, and ought to, think.
      Shimon Soferr lives in Beverly and works for the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department., running the Freedom From Violence Program, teaching incarcerated offenders how futile and unwise violence is in any form and for any cause.

It comes down to society,  not cops!

By Daniel Hickey

Also of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Dept.

     Upon reading the article authored by Shimon Soferr ("It comes down to the cops"), I initially was irritated by his ideal logical opinion. Shimon does meet with many antisocial people as a part of his occupation. The work he does is admirable in his efforts to reduce the violent behavior of the inmates at the Suffolk County House of Correction. However, Shimon either doesn't realize what is taught at law enforcement academies or is blinded by the same stereotype suffered by the antisocialists he is teaching. During the 1960's, law enforcement agencies may have been intolerant of criminal behavior, indifferent to social responsibilities and probably did not care about how the same criminals hated or feared them. Today's academies are predicated upon the use of non-lethal alternatives in the force continuum and different physical techniques to restrain the antisocialist without causing permanent injury. Unlike most gang members who do not carry pepper-spray in order to subdue rival gang members, then render assistance in the decontamination of the same affected rival gang member.

     The expectation placed upon law enforcement by this article is unrealistic and somewhat naive. In my 19 years in law enforcement, I have come to realize most of the antisocial people we deal with are that way due to the lack of good parenting, substance abuse and or violence suffered during their youth. Today's youths place too much glamour upon ill-gotten riches from the drug trade and prostitution. This is the social evil that must be addressed in order to reduce violent behavior. A kinder and gentler law enforcement officer would pale in comparison to the monstrous epidemic of drug and sex abuse.

     Law enforcement agents are not trained to be psychologist, teachers or public parents to at-risk youths on their beat. They are trained to be first responders for the sick, protectors of the weak  and keepers of the peace. Today's law enforcement provide social programs like D.A.R.E. and other outreach programs. There is a place and a time for these program and during a tour of duty is neither the place nor the time. An officer is taught to be aware and alert of  his surroundings not to hand-hold a troubled youth that may in fact be carrying the gun that could end his or her life. This is key to surviving a career that so often and sometime deliberately places an officer in harms way.

     In closing, I would like to express my admiration to Shimon for his efforts in lessening or ridding the violent behavior of his students. I understand it is a difficult and long process. I sincerely hope that someday soon his ideal logical opinion will materialize and the world be a better place.

VERBAL SPARRING