Mass law enforcement misconduct news, June 8-14

“Wandering cops” are leaving police jobs to avoid discipline and getting news ones, and more

Here are the media reports of alleged law enforcement misconduct in Massachusetts that I’ve tracked during the last week.

State and local

WCVB reports on “wandering cops”

“5 Investigates collaborated with Northeastern University’s School of Journalism to review state disciplinary data and internal affairs reports obtained through public records requests. They identified more than 50 officers currently working in law enforcement in Massachusetts after resigning or retiring from their previous police job to avoid getting in trouble.” (WCVB)

“Colleges and universities across Massachusetts are employing wandering officers — cops who resigned or retired to avoid discipline and are now working on campus police forces. … At least a dozen officers who left a public force were hired by private police forces at colleges and universities, including Harvard, MIT and Suffolk.” (WCVB)

The latest on the State Police cover-up

“The Mass State Police did not perform a “full, detailed” crash reconstruction after one of their own sergeants [Scott Quigley] allegedly drunkenly hit a wheelchair van in 2023, according to a Suffolk County prosecutor.” (Boston Herald)
“The Supreme Judicial Court upheld a decision from a single justice barring bail for three alleged murderers whose Lowell trial has been paused because of a State Police scandal.” (Boston Herald)
“Suspended and indicted Massachusetts State Trooper Scott Quigley won’t be answering questions about a crash in Woburn that killed 37-year-old Angelo Schettino of Saugus. That’s according to a motion filed by his lawyer in the Schettino family’s wrongful death civil suit that names Quigley and State Police as defendants.” (Boston 25 News)

The never-ending Karen Read saga

“The lead investigator in the Karen Read murder investigation, former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, has lost a last-minute bid to delay giving sworn testimony in a civil lawsuit connected to the high-profile case.” (NBC10 Boston)
“The leader of Massachusetts’ public defender agency said [on June 9] that the bigoted text messages exchanged by two former investigators revealed in a new lawsuit from Karen Read raised ‘immediate concerns about the fairness of cases in which they were involved.’ The Committee for Public Counsel Services sent letters [on June 9] to both the Massachusetts State Police and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office, asking the agencies to provide lists of all open and closed cases involving the two investigators, former State Police Trooper Michael Proctor and former Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode.” (MassLive)
“Karen Read and the Massachusetts State Police are fighting in court over access to hundreds of emails that she is seeking amid the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of John O'Keefe. Motions reviewed by NewsCenter 5 show that Read's attorneys argue the agency inappropriately withheld 473 emails between the Massachusetts State Police and the Norfolk district attorney's office.” (WCVB)

More misconduct allegations

“Plymouth police officer Samantha Pelrine and her husband, Daniel Forand, were due back in court Monday, June 8, on child rape charges, but the hearing was rescheduled for July 23.” (Patriot Ledger)
“A former sheriff’s deputy in Massachusetts has pleaded guilty to federal charges after reporting the NBC10 Boston Investigators raised ethical questions. Thomas Brady, who worked with the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, is admitting that he pressured employees to perform free plumbing and electrical work at his home. Brady pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and witness tampering.” (NBC10 Boston)

“A defense lawyer for a Black man charged in a 2021 fatal shooting in Milton [Myles King] is asking a judge to throw out the case over racist text messages by former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who oversaw the investigation.” (MassLive)
“A man convicted of killing a Roxbury shoe shop owner in 1974 who was freed from prison in 2021 has sued the state of Massachusetts for at least $1 million, claiming he was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for nearly 50 years over a murder he did not commit. Raymond Gaines, now 72, filed the lawsuit in Suffolk County Superior Court on [June 8] with attorney Mark Loevy-Reyes under Massachusetts’ wrongful conviction statute. … He said [Boston] police withheld key evidence that would have exonerated him, including witness recantations, for decades.” (MassLive)

I’ve previously written about how Massachusetts’ wrongful-conviction compensation statute caps compensation at $1 million regardless of how many years, or decades, a person spent in prison. It’s something advocates have been fighting to change for years.

I’ve seen no news reports about this yet, but online records show the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission on June 9 suspended the law-enforcement certification for former Boston police officer William P. Henry “in light of evidence that [he] engaged or may have engaged in criminal conduct.” The POST Commission suspension order does not specify the nature of the alleged criminal conduct.

Other News

Civilian-review board calls on Boston police to release body-camera videos of police shootings (Boston Globe; paywalled)

After two recent fatal police shootings, Boston’s civilian oversight agency is calling for an updated policy that would require the department to release body-camera footage within a specific timeframe, increasing transparency in the wake of officer violence.

The recommendation was included in a memo sent [in June] from the city’s Office of Police Accountability and Transparency, or OPAT, to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox. It called on the department to release bodycam footage to OPAT within seven days and publicly within 30 days.

Massachusetts public defense system is “broken,” inspector general says (WBUR)

The public defender system in Massachusetts is “broken” and is one of the most costly in the country, according to a scathing new report from the state’s inspector general.

The report said the state system, run by the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), has long been in need of reform and that issues were not properly addressed after [2025’s] work stoppage, when [bar advocates] refused to accept new cases while pressing for an increase in their hourly rates. …

The report also said the public defender agency has “too many supervisors” and its staff attorneys work the lowest number of cases of many statewide public defender system, including those in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

CPCS responded, saying the report is “inaccurate” and relies on attorney caseload comparisons and metrics that do not reflect the reality of what the work requires.

I’m alarmed at the suggestion from the inspector general in this story that public defenders should handle bigger caseloads. The Boston Globe’s coverage notes that the inspector general is also recommending more rigorous means testing to determine whether defendants qualify for public defenders.

But it’s not inherently a problem to spend lots of money on public defense any more than it’s a problem to spend lots of money on education. Public defense is necessary and good. If people are being prosecuted, they deserve attorneys who can dedicate enough time to investigating their cases and can represent them in court as zealously as possible. And that isn’t free any more than quality schools are free.

If cost is such a big problem, then the state should examine how prosecutors can focus on the most serious crimes and bring fewer low-level cases to court. That would mean less money spent on prosecutors, courts, jails and prisons—and public defense, since the need for public defense is driven by prosecutions.

Department of Correction proposes further limiting physical touch during visits (MassLive)

Dozens of testifiers who visit people in Massachusetts’ prisons — most of them family members — spoke out on the proposed changes during a public hearing held by the DOC on [June 11]. Many worried that the connection between incarcerated parents and their children will be compromised. …

The proposed rules, which must be signed off on by DOC Commissioner Shawn Jenkins, would provide clearer definitions of what physical contact is allowed during visits. Incarcerated people and their visitors would be able to share one closed-mouth kiss and a hug at the beginning and end of a visit.

No touching would be allowed during the visit itself, and sitting side by side at medium- and maximum-security facilities would be prohibited. Many testifiers said such practices are already enforced at the prisons.

Two out-of-state lawyers not allowed to practice in Mass after citing fake, “AI”-”hallucinated” cases (Universal Hub)

Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly reports a judge in Barnstable Superior Court has refused to let a New York lawyer represent an LLC she owns in a Cape Cod case because some of her filings cite “fictional cases” and rulings that have nothing to do with the case, in motions that completely misconstrue Massachusetts law.

It’s the second time in a month that a Massachusetts judge has booted an out-of-state lawyer from the courtroom for failing to check AI-generated motions to see if cited cases really exist, rather than being computer-generated hallucinations.

It's been 100 days since the US reportedly bombed a girls school in Iran, killing 100+ kids. I pressed members of Congress on what they're doing in response to one of the most horrific war crimes in modern US history. Some didn't even know about it. And some just didn't care:

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— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 10:43 PM

“For nearly three years, children in Gaza have grown up surrounded by war, displacement and loss. Thousands of children have been killed in Israeli strikes … Still, the children of Gaza yearn for the chance to keep learning in classes held in tents, damaged buildings and overcrowded shelters.”

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— Andrew Quemere (@andrewqmr.bsky.social) June 12, 2026 at 9:10 PM

While his mountain of horrible personal conduct could fill multiple books, one fact in particular stands out: A year ago, Musk’s actions directly led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. He did it knowingly. And, worse — gleefully. Read more: www.theverge.com/tech/949259/...

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— The Verge (@theverge.com) June 12, 2026 at 2:52 PM

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