June 18, 2021
Rebecca S. Murray
Office of the
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Public Records
Division
One Ashburton
Place, Room 1719
Boston,
MA 02108
617-727-2832
RE: SPR
21/1257
Dear Supervisor
of Records Murray:
This is a
response to Lieutenant Joseph Casey’s position on SPR 21/1257 sent June 16, 2021.
1)Please go back to November of 2019 SPR 19/2081. SPR 19/2081 is very much identical to the
current SPR 21/1257 The Records Division
was correct in 2019; same action should apply here.
Your office
was kind enough to benefit the public by demanding the information included
with the response to SPR 19/2081.
That is my first argument as to why the MPD must turn over the videos
and photographs immediately. They will
not affect any magistrate hearing or trial, that’s a red herring. It is meant
to be misleading, a tactic the MPD has utilized for decades and it is tiresome,
as well as unethical. This is of GREAT PUBLIC INTEREST especially w/council VP
Knight a candidate during election cycle.
2)When the Public Records Division ignored the
protests of city hall in November of 2019, it did the citizens of Medford a
great public service, for which I thank you. It is the most explosive case of the past
decade, in my opinion, in regards to public safety and allowing the public to
become aware of police misbehavior on a massive scale. Which I detail more
precisely in the next few paragraphs.
SPR19/2081 was crucial information and has garnered
hundreds of thousands of page views on my popular news site. We are on the way
to two million page views. That is
evidence of the great public interest that we are providing the taxpayers and
voters. I volunteer my time, absolutely
free of charge, and do this to benefit the public.
See the 2019 previous SPR19/2081. It is about a 64 page
document entitled The L’Italien ReportExact time stamp on e mail: Mon, Nov 4, 2019 at
2:10 PM The L'Italien Report SPR19/2081
I respectfully request that
your office take note of the importance of that report and how your office and
my volunteer efforts did a great public service. We have the proof, we saw how city
hall fought hard to stop the release, and how it served the public in an
effective and wholesome way. Which is
why these photographs SPR 21/1257 must be released immediately. These cases are
very similar and show a Medford pattern of non-transparency. MPD hiding police
misconduct, now city council misconduct.
Page 2
of Lt. Casey’s letter of June 16, 2021 is extremely deceitful and harmful.
Casey cites the “privacy rights” of a city council vice president. They are
trying to pass a public figure off as a lowly city hall worker, which is not
the case; yet the police maliciously went after this writer in the press, invading
my privacy and treating a journalist as if he was their own version of Saudi
writer Jamal Khashogg, to brutalize and defame. I prevailed, of course, but the ferocity with
which the MPD attempted to harm me and the kid gloves for Mr Knight you can
read in greater detail on page 5 of this rebuttal to Lt Casey’s desperate
attempt to not be forthright.
Page 2
Obviously
I have essential things to do for my business today. That I am investing this
volunteer time is because it is an election cycle and while the police are
stalling on this issue, Mr. Adam Knight, the subject of the police report, is
campaigning for reelection while the public is mostly unaware that he is under
criminal investigation. This benefits Knight’s misconduct. Knight’s allegedly violent action of April 1,
2021 is being covered up (which confidential informants warned this reporter
would happen,) while the voters / taxpayers are kept in the dark; the taxpayers
who have to fund the Thirty-One Thousand dollars Knight receives, Knight voting
for his own pay raises.
All
due respect to Lieutenant Joseph Casey of the public records office of the MPD,
but that is outrageous and scandalous.
An elected official smashing a bank door, allegedly, and fleeing at a
high rate of speed out of the parking lot of the Bank of America, allegedly,
campaigning for elected office again but doing his best to hide the facts of
the case. There is a conspiracy afoot
here to hide Knight’s wrongful conduct from the public during an election cycle
to get Knight reelected and pull the wool over the eyes of the voters. The conspiracy is something multiple
tipsters warned me of.
Delaying
the release of these photographs does irreparable harm to the voters and
taxpayers. Lieutenant Casey had an
obligation to give this writer the photos on the due date of June 16, 2021, and
his failure to do so I believe disrupts the 2021 election.
3)Paul
Ruseau, convicted felon on the Medford School Committee.
When I
voted for Mr. Ruseau to be on the school committee, we the public had no idea
that his original name was Paul Comeau Jr. and that he was a convicted felon,
something to do with the theft of a school computer. The irony that Comeau
stole from a New Hampshire school, changed his name to Ruseau, and got elected
to make decisions for school kids in Meddford should not escape the Records
Division. By keeping his past secret,
Ruseau is now spending taxpayer dollars on changing the name of the Columbus
School when supplies and teacher salaries, I believe, are far more
important. Had we known Ruseau’s true
lack of qualifications (starting with not being honest with the voters,) recent
history would be dramatically different. The failure
to alert the public to his past was the poisonous tree and Ruseau’s
votes/decisions are the fruit of the poisonous tree. Not good for Medford, certainly an example of
how a lack of transparency can be detrimental to Medford life.
I
broke the story on Ruseau’s felony record. Had he not gone after the Columbus
School name, informants would not have sent me the information on his
conviction and incarceration.
4)Now
the Medford police, fully aware of the Ruseau conviction (probably only because
of my hard work and honest efforts,) are trying to keep the criminal complaint pending
against the vice president of the Medford city council, Adam Knight, out of the
public eye as long as they can. Knowing
this, let’s go back to the SPR 19/2081 and why your office allowed me to obtain
that essential 64 page document, the L’Italien Report.
Page 3
5)The
L’Italien Report
SPR19/2081
This
was a case concerning insubordination, conduct unbecoming and other issues.
There
may have been approximately twenty-four officers who were not exonerated by
private detective Paul L’Italien’s report.
A further public records request to the office of District Attorney
Marian Ryan found 117 officers in Middlesex County on the Discovery/Brady-Giglio
lists. The majority of those officers – about thirty – were from the Medford
Police Department.
Brady v.
Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 87 (1963); Giglio v. United
States, 405 U.S. 150, 154 (1972). The law requires the disclosure https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-5000-issues-related-trials-and-other-court-proceedings
City Hall and – obviously – the police, did not want the
names exposed with the police chief proclaiming with the power of suggestion “These
are all good men and women.” The public
had no evidence of that and were asked to take Chief Buckley’s word on it; he
said quite clearly that he wanted the public trust, never thinking that my
request, and your office’s decision, would give the public the information that
the public needs, deserves and pays for.
This
is the critical work that we are doing for the voters / taxpayers of Medford.
The work
that your office does, my volunteer efforts, are the sunlight that informs the
taxpayers how their money is spent. Even
more crucial, that their Medford police department is the most untrustworthy in
all of Middlesex County according to the records of the district attorney, Marian
Ryan.
Since the taxpayers funded SPR19/2081 (L’Italien Report) and city hall
tried to deny this reporter the documents that you so kindly demanded they
provide us, Chief Buckley’s dishonest October 1, 2019 declaration “these are
all good men and women” to the city council would have been the public
perception. Our sunlight benefited the
public and it is now the biggest story of my news site in its ten year or so
history.
6)Medford
police department rules and regulations cite Truthfulness (section 67,) yet the Chief of Police, Jack Buckley, spoke with
untruthfulness to the citizens of Medford at the Medford City Council. October 1, 2019, thinking that the L’Italien
Report (SPR19/2081) would never be released, told the public that “These are
all good men and women.” As stated
above, but important to reiterate.
When
the Public Records Division allowed me to obtain the documents, we found that
that wasn’t the case and that the police chief was attempting to deceive the
public. I have evidence that his predecessor, Leo A. Sacco Jr., played the same
unsavory games with the public vis-à-vis non-transparency and attempts to blame
anyone reporting wrongful conduct.
Page 4
Former chief Sacco went so far as to post on the
MPD website “See something, say something,” and if you reported misconduct –
doing as the chief of police asked - Chief Sacco or his forces would make up
public condemnation of the victims. The
power of suggestion was abused in an ugly fashion as Sacco was seeking public
comment only to find out what the public knew, only to then turn around and
shame the victims. A woman whose lip
was ripped open and stitched at the hospital (I have the photographs,) was
maligned by Sacco when his officer – who was having an affair with the woman
behind the backs of his wife and children. Officer James Lee cut the woman’s
lip open so severely it needed a series of painful stitches. To the horror of readers of the weekly paper
the woman victimized by the officer (he, Officer James Lee, did not go to the
hospital, his victim did,) was said by the chief to “have issues” in the local
paper (I believe it was the Boston Globe “North” section at the time or the
weekly Medford Transcript.)
In a previous e mail on this current SPR 21/1257 we
are discussing today, that Lieutenant Casey is attempting to appeal, this
writer noted an article in 2018 about the failure of the Medford Police
Department to comply with public records requests. The MPD has ignored
requests!
I am not shocked, but I am saddened, that Officer
Casey doesn’t understand the magnitude of this breach of the public trust.
These photographs are essential. Every second that
these photographs are held back from the public is more time for defendant Adam
Knight to campaign and, like Chief Buckley, abuse the power of suggestion and
make his persuasive argument that he’s the best guy for the job. Yet the voters paying this Thirty-one thousand
dollar annual salary can’t see Knight allegedly losing his temper, allegedly
fleeing the scene or what the police are calling a criminal investigation, all
because the very same police appear to be protecting Mr. Knight WHILE
investigating his conduct.
7)Solicitor Rumley, who attempted to keep me from
obtaining the 2019 case, SPR19/2081, decided he would
investigate the members of the board of a non-profit, Medford Community
Cablevision, Inc. a board that he was on I believe twice, purely a conflict of
interest, Mr. Rumley then abandoning the investigation of his own board.
It benefited Rumley, but not the public.
This is how business is done in Medford. Conflict of interest. Take the chief’s word that 24 of the 30 or so
police officers on D.A. Marian Ryan’s “Brady/Giglio” list are “all good” and it
denies the public a reality check; it slaps the public in the face.
This is just common sense, not a flash of
inspiration because I’ve been writing for half a century and that I’ve been
quoted in the New York Times, Boston Globe and in so many books, articles and
online sites I simply can’t keep track of it. One
doesn’t need to be Einstein or a Philadelphia lawyer to understand that a
cover-up is going on; a cover-up designed to keep the taxpayers who fund city
government in the dark. During an
election cycle. “The most protected right” according to state Representative
Donato.
Page 5
BACK
TO THE LACK OF SUNLIGHT BY EX SOLICITOR RUMLEY AND TV3, AND THE BRUTAL
RAMIFICATIONS OF COVER UPS IN MEDFORD
At
least Thirty Eight Thousand Dollars not accounted for at MCC TV3, and the ex
board member who investigated his own board of directors abandons the public
trust; refuses to finish what he started on the cable franchise fees that I
estimate are far more than the 38 THOUSAND DOLLARS that the “non-profit’s”
president and board couldn’t justify in the weekly newspaper.
Your
office certainly knows of this as I’ve been filing appeals since on or about
2013.
This
is how business is conducted in Medford and the public is at a disadvantage
when powerful departments like the city law office and the police fail to alert
the public to the information that public records requests demand and that the
public / voters /taxpayers have a right to know about.
8)On
May 27, 2021, Joseph Casey wrote “The department is relying on
exemption (f), the Investigatory Exemption, in that the video/photographs from
Bank of America are evidence of the case, and release of the video and
photographs would probably so prejudice the possibility of effective law
enforcement that such disclosure would not be in the public interest.”
I submit that this disclosure is most definitely in the
public interest, which is why the Records Division made the determination in my
favor in this case, SPR21/1257 as well as the 2019 case referenced. Lieutenant Casey is recycling the position
that failed in May in order to stall for time and harm the voters and
taxpayers.
a)My publication posted the entire police report of which
the photographs / videos are part of.
Casey gave me half of the police report, the paper
documents, but held the photos and videos back.
Why? They are
part of the same file that Lt. Casey gave me only part of.
b)the city council is fending off three Open Meeting Law violation
complaints because they denied me the opportunity to inform the public at the
city council Evidence of the cover-up I
mentioned. About ten days later the
weekly newspaper went on the story while the council continues to DENY a
petitioner the 1st Amendment right to speak about this very public
and embarrassing to the city council situation.
c)the weekly Medford paper got ahold of the story where
the defendant, Adam Knight, proclaimed “it’s not a story.” The same exact abuse of the power of
suggestion that ex solicitor Rumley used, ex police chief Sacco used, the modus
operandi of Medford city government.
This appeal of the Division’s Determination is exactly
why the public is outraged over a school committee vice chair able to get
elected without his conviction and incarceration known to the public because
Mr. Paul Ruseau cleverly and slyly changed his name and got out of the search
engines.
Page 6
My point is made, however I would be happy to go over Lt.
Casey’s letter point by point if need be.
Lieutenant Casey GAVE ME the police report, and these
documents are part of that same file. He should have handed the entire file
over.
Mr. Knight, facing a clerk magistrate and possible
criminal charges; a criminal complaint sought by the Medford police as they
have found probable cause, telling the public during an election cycle that
there is “no story,” while he is heading into court is deception.
The photographs – the public records – part of a police
report that was released to me by Lieutenant Casey are the visual part of the
story. By only releasing part of the
police report the public is being told by the defendant, Council VP Adam
Knight, that there is no story, just as Chief Jack Buckley lied to the public
about “all good men and women” who were actually irresponsible men and women
who took an oath to protect and serve. Chief
of Police Buckley lied to the public about the actual status of his “all good
men and women” – on a Disclosure list because of conduct unbecoming and
untrustworthiness. Chief Buckley’s
standards are shockingly low for his officers, with standards for the public so
high that they are NOT in the lawbooks (see Sgt Mackowski, working on this
case, and Council President Caraviello, laughed out of court on January 31,
2017 because they made up a law that doesn’t exist to harass an individual to
try to stop him from publishing facts.)
To show how absurd the Medford Police Department and the
City Council president Caraviello are, they used the office of the District
Attorney to attempt to order me to not “pace” in the back of Alden Chambers,
where I edit my petitions to the city council.
They went to a judge to order me to stop walking across the back of the
room while editing my essays – quietly and not in view of the attendees. They were laughed out of court again, a
second time. That Mackowski is on this
case as well, and that Council President Caraviello is protecting his council
vice president, is disgusting.
That the Medford Police Department has a history of not
responding to legitimate public record requests, that they gave half a loaf instead
of the entire report, and that they are protecting the defendant during an
election cycle is all you need to know about the game they have afoot.
I respectfully request that you again inform the records
officer at the Medford Police Department, Lieutenant Joseph Casey, to stop
keeping public records in the dark and comply with the Determination.
Sincerely,
P.O. Box 2392
Woburn MA 01888
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