Mass law enforcement misconduct news, Oct. 26-Nov. 1

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

State and local

• “[Franklin County Sheriff’s Lt. Christopher] Cooper is one of at least five employees of the Franklin County and Hampshire County sheriffs’ offices alleged to have committed crimes or other misconduct, according to a cache of disclosures that the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office released in response to a Mass Dump lawsuit. … The Brady disclosures offer a rare window into the secretive world of sheriffs’ offices, where misconduct is often shielded from outside scrutiny by Massachusetts’ weak public records law.” (Mass Dump/Shoestring)

Records reveal alleged misconduct in western Mass. sheriffs’ offices

Despite recent transparency reforms, sheriffs in Massachusetts are still able to keep officer misconduct hidden from scrutiny. But newly uncovered documents reveal allegations against five sheriffs’ employees in Franklin and Hampshire counties.

The Mass DumpAndrew Quemere

• “William Farwell took the stand to testify Monday, Oct. 26 at the federal murder trial of his twin brother, Matthew Farwell, who is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby in February 2021 to keep her from exposing alleged sexual exploitation that began when she was 15 and he was a 27-year-old officer serving as an instructor in the department's youth Explorer program. … William Farwell testified he began a consensual sexual relationship with Birchmore, who was around 20 at the time. He admitted under oath that some of those sexual encounters occurred while he was on duty as a Stoughton police officer.” (Enterprise)
• “A former sheriff’s deputy in Massachusetts will spend 20 months in prison for ordering employees to perform maintenance at his home, as well as witness tampering. Thomas Brady of Norwood, who worked with the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty to federal charges after reporting from the NBC10 Boston Investigators raised ethical questions.” (NBC10 Boston)
• “A Massachusetts police chief is off the job and the subject of an internal investigation after he was found apparently drunk in his parked cruiser, according to a police report. Shrewsbury police said their officers were responding to a well-being check when they found [Westborough Police] Chief Todd Minardi in his unmarked cruiser outside a liquor store on Route 9. In the police report, one officer described Minardi as ‘hammered drunk.’” (NBC10 Boston)
• “Activists who testified at Boston City Hall during a hearing of the Council’s Criminal Justice Committee on [October 26] cited allegations of beatings, sexual assaults, and 20 deaths over the last seven years at the Suffolk County House of Correction. The hearing was held in response to the December 2025 killing of Shacoby Kenny by guards at the South Bay jail. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Kenny’s death was a homicide, finding that he died after guards put him in a chokehold.” (Dorchester Reporter)
• “A Wareham police officer is being held on allegations that he repeatedly held a gun to his girlfriend’s head and sexually assaulted her during their six-year, on-and-off relationship. According to court documents, 41-year-old Ryan Gomes of Wareham was arrested last week on 15 counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon, one count of strangulation or suffocation, one count of assault and battery on a family or household member, and two counts of rape.” (Boston 25 News)
• “A Salem police officer in the midst of divorcing his wife has been charged with assaulting his mother-in-law in the family home during a laundry dispute, according to legal filings. Sean Guntram Whitaker, 47, pleaded not guilty [on October 26] in Salem District Court to a sole felony count of assault and battery on a disabled person or someone over 60, records show.” (Boston Globe; paywalled)
• “A Massachusetts State Trooper who was under investigation after being accused of repeatedly pulling over a person has been dishonorably discharged following an internal investigation. Massachusetts State Police said Stephen P. Smith was dishonorably discharged after he resigned during the investigation.” (Boston 25 News)
• “A rift between [Worcester] Police Chief Paul B. Saucier and one of his four deputies spawned an internal investigation and claims of retaliation the city believes could lead to litigation, heavily redacted documents obtained by the Telegram & Gazette indicate. … The documents indicate [Deputy Chief Edward J.] McGinn was barred from performing details for the final two months of 2025 and stripped of some of his duties after Saucier alleged he had worked too many details. McGinn, who was 62 at the time, soon filed a complaint with the DEI office alleging he was discriminated against because of his age. He further alleged that a detailed summary he’d emailed to investigators confidentially in November 2025, as well as his online complaint, was found on a communal printer in the chief’s office suite within 48 hours.” (Telegram & Gazette; paywalled)

Federal

• “Advocacy and resettlement groups, including several in Massachusetts, are suing the Trump administration over three policies that block refugees from obtaining green cards, subject them to re-vetting, and speed up the process of ending their legal immigration status. … The suit, filed on [October 26] in the District of Massachusetts in Boston, targets U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.” (GBH)
• “A Chelsea mother and green card holder says in a new lawsuit against the Trump administration that she was ‘violently attacked’ by masked federal immigration officers [in 2025]. Hilda Ramirez Sanan sued the federal government in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on [October 27] after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested her during a September 2025 encounter near Chelsea District Court. Other plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit are her U.S. citizen children— her daughter, Michelle Ramirez Sanan, 18, and her now 14-year-old son, identified in the suit as J.R.S.” (GBH)
• “Groups that provide legal services to immigrants filed a lawsuit [on October 28] seeking to stop the Trump administration’s new policy of hiding the locations of tens of thousands of detainees with final deportation orders. The policy, adopted suddenly [in September] to expedite deportations, interferes with immigration lawyers’ rights by making it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to locate their clients, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston. It asks a judge to issue an order blocking the ‘unlawful and inhumane’ change.” (Associated Press)

Other news

Boston police shoot and kill man experiencing mental-health crisis (MassLive)

A Boston police officer shot and killed a person in the midst of a mental health crisis in Brighton on [October 30], law enforcement officials said.

Police responded to Selkirk Road, in a residential area just north of Cleveland Circle, around 7 a.m. after a 911 call for a person armed with a “very large knife” threatening to harm himself, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a press conference … at the department headquarters.

Mass. sheriffs really want to help ICE deport people (WBUR)

12 of the state’s 14 sheriffs — 10 Democrats and two Republicans — signed a letter asking Healey to consider a tweak to the law to allow their offices to notify ICE about individuals charged with violent crimes who are subject to deportation orders. The PROTECT Act broadly prohibits sheriffs from giving ICE a heads up before they release someone the agency wants to deport — with the exception of people who have completed a sentence for certain felony violent crimes. However, that “exception does not apply to pretrial detainees,” the Oct. 22 letter notes.

Worcester 911 commissioner arrested for OUI (MassLive)

The commissioner of Worcester’s emergency communications and management department is on administrative leave, after being arrested and charged with drunken driving, according to the city.

The commissioner, Charles Goodwin, was arrested on Friday, Oct. 23, and charged with operating under the influence, according to a statement from city spokesperson Thomas Matthews sent [on October 26].

Republican candidate for governor, without evidence, accuses current governor of colluding with State Police union for endorsement (State House News Service)

Asked to present evidence of his claim that the State Police union allegedly cut a deal with Gov. Maura Healey to trade an endorsement for a new contract, Republican opponent Mike Minogue alleged broadly that “people know” and pointed [October 27] to the “perception of corruption.”

“Most people already know and believe that that’s what was done because if you polled the state troopers, I would win,” Minogue said. “I would win as far as the preference, and the state troopers, active and retired, are the ones that have brought this forth, so Governor Healey can simplify this and make sure that we know for sure there’s no perception. And again, the leader’s job is to avoid the perception of corruption.”

Lowell faces open meeting complaint after vote to reenable Flock Stalker Cameras (Lowell Sun)

The [Lowell] City Council was hit with an Open Meeting Law complaint because of a reported Oct. 6 executive session vote that turned the city’s Flock automatic license plate reader cameras back on after a September vote to suspend their use.

In a statement Thursday, DeFlock Lowell said it filed the complaint against the City Council “over its handling of the city’s Flock Safety license plate reader cameras,” and asked the body to “make its decision in public, release the minutes of the closed session, and publish the rules now governing the cameras.”

Middleton select board votes to end police chief’s employment amid discrimination lawsuit (Boston 25 News)

The Middleton Select Board has voted unanimously to end Police Chief William Sampson’s employment when his contract expires [in 2027].

The decision comes as the chief pursues a discrimination lawsuit against the town.

Refugee children in Massachusetts targeted for removal

Foster parents and advocates are sounding the alarm that children with special immigration status have been receiving removal orders.

The ShoestringJonathan Gerhardson

Question 1 Promises Transparency For Massachusetts. Will Lawmakers Resist?

Explore Massachusetts Question 1 transparency and how it aims to improve public access to government records in the state.

BINJDIVINA CORDEIRO

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