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DOCUMENT OBTAINED: Internal Investigation of Odell Attack

Official Internal Investigation of Brutal Attack on Richard Odell by off duty Police

Ashland News
Josh Eaton
March 10, 2014

Sham investigation. APD, Town Attorney, Town Manager Willfully Obstruct Justice

Despite unlawful non-compliance by Town, Ashland News Obtained the grossly redacted internal affairs report of the beating of Richard Odell by off duty Ashland Police officers, at the VFW bar, on Christmas night of 2012. Proof Lt Briggs facilitated a cover up, and conducted a phoney investigation. Chief Doherty, TM Schiavi, and now Chief Davis all turn a blind eye, effectively covering for Briggs’ actions, after Briggs colluded with off duty officers to cover for their crime.

Writer’s statement: There are things ‘legal and illegal’, and there are things that are ‘Right and Wrong’. Hitting somebody when they are already on the ground is wrong. Repeatedly hitting someone in the head many times when they are on the ground is wrong, and it is an attempt to kill or permanently injure the person. It is reason enough to investigate with integrity, send the evidence before a grand jury, try the attacker(s), and if found guilty, incarcerate that individual or individuals for an appropriate number of years. This should be done, not just for the sake of justice, but because those individual(s) are dangerous.

FACTS:

* INSUBORDINATION: In defiance of Chief Rohmer’s orders, off duty police at the Ashland VFW on the night of December 26 2012, never submitted police reports. Rohmer was subsequently ‘run-out’ of the department by an ill-informed and/or complicit Town Manager Schiavi. Off duty officers’ reports, to this day, have not been submitted.

* OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Lt Briggs lied, and implicated Chief Doherty in those lies, by claiming himself, Lieutenant Beaudoin, and Chief Doherty all do not have access to, and could not access audio recorders locked in the Detectives office during a six month long investigation. This was done so Briggs could conduct ‘sham’ interviews with the off duty officers who were at the VFW on 12-26-12, making sure all interviewees would provide the same falsified accounts without the scrutiny of interviews being recorded. Many interviewees’ answers are the same, word for word. Investigator Robert Pomeroy noted during his investigations, the serious problem within the department of interviews not being recorded.

* NON-COMPLIANCE with THE LAW: Town Manager and retired Air National Guard Brigadier General Tony Schiavi failed to comply with state law, and also failed to follow through on his promise to provide Ashland News with Police Reports regarding VFW incident. – TM response to AN request

* OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Town Attorney Lisa Mead and/or APD grossly redacted reports well beyond the need to protect ‘privacy’, hiding evidence of criminality among officers. – Official APD Internal Investigation into Attack of Odell – too many instances/pages to list. Attorney Mead includes a cover letter, attempting to justify her actions by citing several court cases which she claims give her the right to grossly redact the document. This was apparently done in anticipation of legal challenges to her redactions.

* SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE: Lieutenant Briggs disregarded statements by non-police witness Linda Dionne made via text messages, stating clearly in context that Odell was beaten by off duty police. – see Text message – 2012-12-28-22-09-57, Text message – 2012-12-29-00-32-16 and . Text message – 2012-12-29-00-31-26 The blue highlighted phone number is or was that of Linda Dionne, former sister in law of officer Michael Dionne

* SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE: Lieutenant Briggs disregarded statements by non-police witness Linda Dionne made via text messages, stating: “They are going to back them up.” Meaning, on and/or off duty Ashland Police officers are going to lie in official statements, in order to cover up the crime committed by off duty officers. – see text message – 2012-12-29-00-31-26

* SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE: Lieutenant Briggs failed to include Pictures of Odell’s injuries, text message documentation, email documentation (unavailable), and 911 telephone recordings (unavailable) from the state police in his investigative report. Note: It appears another individual besides Odell called to report the incident. Perhaps the same individual who’s calls were blocked by dispatcher Finerty, from reaching officer in charge, Sergeant Joe Magnani. Briggs himself listed most of these things as evidence in his report (see Official APD Internal Investigation, page 7), yet failed to include them. Again, Briggs’ official report to interim Chief Davis called Odell’s complaint “UNFOUNDED”. This writer questions whether Chief Davis ever read the report before signing off on it. – see Official APD Internal Investigation, page 3.

* OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE/INSUBORDINATION/SUPPRESSION OF EVIDENCE/VIOLATING CHAIN OF COMMAND: Dispatcher Sarah Finerty intentionally failed to relay several calls from an unknown complainant, from reaching the officer in charge, Sergeant Joe Magnani. Magnani’s office is about 15 feet away from the dispatcher’s station. After her shift, she may have made a half-hearted attempt to cover for her inactions, however the people at the crime scene had dispersed at that point, ruining any chance of a proper response/investigation from being done by the proper officer in charge. Magnani was left completely in the dark. This is a serious obstruction of police procedure and of a superior officer. – see Official APD Internal Investigation document, page 10 at the bottom.

This investigative news report is ongoing, and will be updated throughout the week. Ashland Citizens who are concerned with the state of the police department are encouraged to read all documents and make your own judgement. Keep in mind, this is only the evidence this writer is able to find without direct access to witnesses, and with an extremely redacted report. No known witnesses returned phone calls. Witnesses have been intimidated from coming forward, that is fact.

Official APD Internal Investigation      |      TM response to AN request      |      Attorney Letter Demanding Investigation/Justice      |      Text Messages between Odell and Linda Dionne      |      Pictures of Odell after assault      |      Odell interview conducted by Ashland CAC      |      Ashland Citizens’ Awareness Committee Investigation/Report      |      Article: Destructive effects of Krantz/MWDN one-sided reporting      |      Article: Another APD Cover up

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