Tag: Federal Bureau of Investigation

There’s only one way to beat a bully. You’ve got to punch him in the mouth. That’s a lesson I’ve learned over the years. If you don’t punch a bully in the mouth upon his very first attempted slight, that bully will gain subliminal power over you and your group. I’ve been that bully in the past, but I’ve learned to temper my limits.

Calter’s Controlled Rooms

I believe that Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter is a bully. I’ve never met Calter, but I see that he’s railroaded the Town of Stoughton with his redevelopment of the historic Stoughton Train Station; his renovations have been disastrous for the building’s interior character. The “his” in my prior sentence was deliberate because Calter was the face of the redevelopment. His Facebook posts showed the progression, but Stoughton residents had no meaningful role in some big decisions. Town records make Calter’s ownership plain: the grant moved under Calter’s direction, Calter appointed Select Board Member Joseph “Joe” Mokrisky to lead design and construction, and a January 2026 committee minute called the depot “Tom’s baby” because of the depth surrounding Calter’s personal involvement.

“The project is ‘Tom’s baby’…” — Stoughton Community Preservation Committee minutes¹

At the new Starbucks in Canton, I ran into Select Board Member Joseph “Joe” Mokrisky, and we talked for about 45 minutes. Mokrisky was affable and knowledgeable. I couldn’t get a read on his politics, but he understood the assignment.

Stoughton Economic Development Director Pamela “Pam” McCarthy and I worked together on the Downtown Redevelopment Task Force. McCarthy is tremendously hard-working and may be one of the best employees in the Town of Stoughton. There shall be no Pam McCarthy slander.

Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter can’t turn “mold” into a magic incantation that converts preservation into demolition: Calter cited water damage, mold, and termite infestation, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still lists wet vacuuming, damp wiping, and high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuuming among possible methods for wood surfaces. The National Park Service says work on historic properties generally favors maintenance and repair over extensive replacement. Those standards don’t magically save rotten wood; they strip “mold” of its power as a one-word verdict.

Where’s the assessment? Where’s the salvage map? Where’s the alternatives analysis?

“…maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather than extensive replacement…” — National Park Service²

Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter has already defined “transparency” on Town letterhead. In September of 2024, Calter defended a South School working group he’d created by noting that it needed no agendas, public invitations, public recognition, minutes, or recordings. Calter invited residents anyway, but only on terms that he controlled. Calter then called the arrangement “a model of public participation and transparency”. His model of transparency kept the camera outside the room and the flattering adjectives under Calter’s control.

“Video recording or live streaming … would be contrary to the mission of the working group…” — Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter³

The camera Calter kept outside the room had an owner with its own complaint. In April of 2025, Stoughton Media Access Corporation (SMAC) sued the Town, Calter, Select Board Chairman Stephen “Steve” Cavey, and Select Board Member Joseph “Joe” Mokrisky, alleging that Town officials tried to coerce favorable programming and retaliated when SMAC resisted. The parties reached an agreement and dismissed the case in 2026, but the agreement didn’t unwrite Calter’s letter.⁴

I’m not raising the train station issue as some random guy who watched a Facebook Reel and became a preservation expert. I’m a licensed Real Estate Broker, and I also hold an Unrestricted Construction Supervisor License (CSL). I owned Jonathan Bowen Real Estate, LLC, Star Construction, Inc., and Hub Edge Realty, LLC, and I carried those licenses into those businesses. After completing Builder “A” School at Port Hueneme, California, I served as a Builder (BU) in the U.S. Navy Seabees. I later served as a First Lieutenant (1LT) in the 101st Engineer Battalion while completing Engineer Officer Basic Course (EOBC) at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. On July 5th, 2018, I was sworn onto Stoughton’s Downtown Redevelopment Task Force. I stepped down the following year. By the Task Force’s January 2nd, 2020 meeting, the Town’s packet recorded my departure.⁵ Those credentials don’t make me a preservation architect, but they do mean that I can recognize the difference between an explanation and a specification.

The Stoughton Train Station, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was chosen as an interior and exterior filming location for Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of “Little Women” because it resembled the feel of the Concord Train Station during the 1860s and 1870s, although it was actually built in 1888; that alone shows its importance.

“At the time of filming, the interior of the Stoughton station had barely been changed since its opening in 1888.”⁶

I almost got arrested by the Massachusetts State Police — although it had no jurisdiction — for flying my drone above the “Little Women” filming at the Stoughton Train Station. That brush with authority fixed the production and the depot in my memory. My history with that building predates Calter’s “baby”.

The depot and the working group expose the same management instinct: Calter keeps the authorship, controls the room, and asks Stoughton to admire the result. A manager’s nameplate shouldn’t become the project specification. Calter’s name keeps appearing where the process should carry the weight of its decisions.

The Quotation Marks

Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter has tried to “fire” Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara, but the quotation marks carry my argument. The Town Charter, the special acts behind it, and McNamara’s employment contract don’t hand Calter an unrestricted removal power. Chapter 474 of the Acts of 1978 does include a Town Manager removal route after a hearing and a finding that the public interest requires removal.

Chapter 474 of the Acts of 1978 supplies that authority…

“Said chief of police may be removed … by the town manager … after a hearing that the public interest so requires said removal.”⁷

In 1993, Chapter 250 of the Acts of 1993 placed the Police Chief’s appointment with the Select Board and said the Chief serves at the Board’s will; it didn’t, however, expressly repeal the Town Manager’s 1978 removal authority.

“All other appointees to offices listed in this paragraph shall serve at the will of the Selectboard.”⁸

Police Chief Donna McNamara’s contract is not the missing weapon; it’s attached to her verified complaint from earlier today. The 2025 agreement says that the Select Board may remove McNamara under Charter § C10-2, which requires detailed written reasons. McNamara’s resignation requires written notice through the Town Manager to the Select Board. A without-cause termination by the Select Board requires twelve months of salary and benefits. Calter’s resignation ultimatum can’t replace the Board action that the contract names.

“…the Board may remove the Police Chief from her position and terminate her employment in accordance with Article 10, Section C10-2…”⁹

Police Chief Donna McNamara didn’t submit the written resignation that her contract routed through the Town Manager to the Select Board.

Where’s the Select Board’s detailed written reason for removing Police Chief Donna McNamara?

This morning, Police Chief Donna McNamara filed a verified complaint alleging that the Town stripped her duties without following her employment agreement. McNamara is asking the court to compel compliance with that agreement and restore her duties. The contract isn’t a side issue; it’s where Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 41, § 108O stops being abstract.

“Town Manager Calter wanted Chief Donna McNamara out. He could not control her, and he could not keep her quiet…”¹⁰

Kingston’s Repeated Warnings

The Town of Kingston supplied an earlier complaint: Kingston Capital Planning Committee Chairman Peter Boncek filed a code-of-civility complaint with the Select Board in January of 2019 after what Boncek described as a hostile and aggressive confrontation with Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter. Calter acknowledged a heated discussion, referred the complaint to legal counsel, and asked Boncek to preserve the audio. Boncek said witnesses saw the first confrontation inside the Town House and another beyond the Town House doors.

“Regardless of any kind of disagreements that Tom Calter and I have, there is no need for him, as town administrator for the town of Kingston, to behave in such an unprofessional hostile and aggressive manner.” — Peter Boncek¹¹

Peter Boncek’s camera had already followed Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter into another public dispute. On February 6th, 2019, Boncek recorded a Halifax Board of Assessors meeting over $12,511.09 in delinquent personal-property tax and interest that assessors said RKP Capital, LLC, owed for equipment at the Jordan Fitness Center, which Calter and his wife had operated from 2010 through 2012. Calter disputed the assessment, said that he’d never received the bills, denied owning the gym for part of the assessed period, proposed paying $1,151.20, and said that he’d appeal. Halifax assessors declined the abatement because the appeal period had passed. Boncek’s camera makes the episode both a character data point and a caution because the tax liability remained disputed and Calter’s former political opponent was recording the room.

“I don’t know of a single taxpayer who would pay taxes on property they didn’t own.” — Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter¹²

By February, Peter Boncek called Town Administrator Thomas Calter “vindictive” and said that Calter had an “anger-management problem” that reached elected officials and Town employees. Boncek had political history with Calter; he’d run against him during the 2016 state election. Boncek’s history gives him a point of view, not a muzzle.

“In my opinion as well, Tom Calter has an anger management problem that should be dealt with…” — Peter Boncek

“Tom Calter needs to remember that he’s a town administrator, not a town manager.” — Peter Boncek¹³

Peter Boncek’s civility complaint wasn’t Town Administrator Thomas Calter’s last foray into friction, but unlike “Little Women”, it ain’t fiction. In early 2020, Calter was involved in a verbal altercation with Kingston Select Board Member Jessica “Jess” Kramer at a local restaurant. After reading a Kingston Reporter article, it seems as though Kramer had the full-throated support of about a dozen supporters as she walked into a three-hour closed-door executive session.¹⁴

Town Administrator Thomas Calter didn’t need a restaurant to find friction in Kingston. In a video uploaded in February of 2020, Daniel Harlow stood before the Kingston Board of Selectmen and read the complaint that he said he’d already emailed to the Board. Harlow said that Calter had made humiliating, threatening, and deeply personal comments about Harlow’s dead father in the Selectmen’s office in front of multiple Town employees.

“His comments were extremely disparaging, discouraging, rude and incredibly personal, dealing with the death of my father, threatening and unbelievably unprofessional.” — Daniel Harlow¹⁵

Select Board Chairman Joshua Warren said he’d spoken to the other people in the room and saw no need to take further action. Warren accused Harlow of “slinging mud”, called the allegations “unfounded”, and offered to discuss them privately. Kingston Selectman Elaine Fiore followed Warren by saying that the complaint wouldn’t return as an open-agenda item because personnel concerns weren’t addressed in open session. Calter didn’t say a word during the visible exchange; he sat reclined but upright, performing relaxation while his face and body held their tension. Warren and Murray tried to move Harlow’s complaint out of sight.

“You chose to sling mud rather than bring up what was discussed.” — Joshua Warren¹⁶

Why would the Town of Stoughton have hired a Town Manager who felt it necessary to apologize to three of Kingston’s five selectmen?

Stoughton’s answer has five names. On October 27th, 2022, Select Board Chair Debra Roberts, Vice Chair Stephen “Steve” Cavey, Scott Carrara, Louis Gitto, and Joseph “Joe” Mokrisky interviewed Calter and the other finalists. Cavey asked Calter about his previous failure. Calter took little responsibility by calling the episode a “Facebook controversy”, a phrase that moved the problem from his conduct to the platform, and said that the lesson was to “just walk away”. On November 1st, Gitto nominated Calter while Roberts nominated former Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer. The five-member Board then voted unanimously for Calter, and Cavey moved to have Town Counsel draft Calter’s contract. They weren’t ignorant of the controversy.

They put it on the interview table. They heard Calter’s answer and handed him the Town Manager’s office. That decision belongs to all five, although not in the same way. Roberts chose Spicer first, but after Spicer lost, Roberts joined the unanimous appointment and approved Calter’s amended contract one month later. Stoughton’s minutes don’t explain Roberts’ change of heart; she made a big mistake.

“He said the experience taught him to ‘just walk away.’” — Stoughton Select Board minutes¹⁷

Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter never seemed to directly apologize to Kingston Select Board member Jessica “Jess” Kramer; that omission doesn’t need a diagnosis because Peter Boncek had already supplied the vocabulary. Before Kingston, former State Representative Thomas “Tom” Calter had already fought House leadership on multiple occasions, and Calter’s defiance kept echoing through the municipal offices that followed. I generally like that attitude of independence, but there’s a line where it crosses from courageous to caustic.

Before Kingston, Thomas “Tom” Calter spent eleven years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, from 2007 until he resigned in 2018 to become Kingston’s Town Administrator; Calter fit neither the backbench nor the trailblazer’s front rank.¹⁸ Calter’s Massachusetts House biography lists four committee assignments but no chairmanship. Calter voted for Robert DeLeo as Speaker in 2015, then voted against keeping the eight-year limit on DeLeo’s tenure. Calter wasn’t entirely allegiant: in 2017, he was one of only nine Massachusetts House Democrats who voted against DeLeo’s $18 million leadership pay package. Calter’s pattern isn’t “Calter fought DeLeo and lost”; it’s an occasional dissenter living inside DeLeo’s majority. Calter left a safe seat for his town’s executive job. Beacon Hill didn’t run him off, which makes the management style that followed in Kingston more — not less — relevant.

The three named apologies went to Kingston Select Board Chairman Joshua Warren, Vice Chairman Elaine Fiore, and Member Sandy MacFarlane. Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter also apologized to Kingston residents generally, but the Kingston Reporter account contains no direct apology to Select Board Member Jessica “Jess” Kramer. Kramer, however, seemed to be upset with the motivations of Warren and Fiore, whose recall petitions had already cleared the signature threshold even though Kingston hadn’t ordered or dated either election.¹⁹

Kingston didn’t keep Town Administrator Thomas “Tom” Calter after the 2020 controversy. On July 30th, 2020, the Kingston Board of Selectmen accepted Calter’s immediate resignation after an executive session. Calter had signed a three-year contract only two years earlier. Select Board Member Jessica “Jess” Kramer recused herself from the vote. Stoughton hired Calter two years later.

“Mr. Calter and the Board of Selectmen have mutually agreed to end their professional relationship.” — Kingston Select Board Chairman Richard Arruda²⁰

A bully will always bully because a bully needs to bully in order for that bullied inner-child to feel an empty fulfillment. The episode in Kingston should’ve informed the Town of Stoughton before it hired Calter. The questions behind his hiring now come to the forefront because his “firing” of Police Chief Donna McNamara has made statewide news.²¹

A Kingston town employee found one of my Stoughton News posts yesterday and replied:

“There were so many warnings given to Stoughton officials prior to his hiring. I wish they’d listened and paid attention.”

“Not true, those documents were actually sent to the BOS! They had the information and STILL HIRED him.”²²

Her capitalization remains intact.

Cavey’s Chosen Mentor

Stoughton Select Board Chairman Stephen “Steve” Cavey had previously wrapped Calter into his campaign for state representative. Cavey’s June 18th campaign post announced Calter’s endorsement, then gave Calter’s role the language Cavey wanted voters to hear. Cavey’s mentorship isn’t speculation. I met Cavey at a Starbucks in Canton during his 2017 Select Board campaign; he’s a nice guy, but he’s malleable and feels a bit soft like a Stay Puft Marshmallow. On July 13th, Cavey’s campaign page placed Calter outside the Avon Public Library with the campaign’s sign-holding crew. Cavey called the group “friends and supporters” who’d given that Monday evening to his campaign. The page gives Calter a public place inside the campaign, whether or not anybody has handed him the campaign-manager title.

“Tom’s advice, wisdom, and encouragement have been invaluable to me.”

“On a personal level, Tom has been a mentor and a friend.” — Stephen “Steve” Cavey²³

Mentorship is a private word with public consequences. Cavey has placed Calter inside his campaign twice, first as an endorser and then as a volunteer. Stoughton’s Chairman shouldn’t need a campaign title to know which relationship his public office has to supervise.

Two Police Academies

I’ve met Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara on a handful of occasions. I’ve always tried to let McNamara be because she’s seemingly got nosy guys like me up her ass. McNamara has always been guarded but respectful during our interactions.

I know the Stoughton Police Department from more than a handful of encounters with its Police Chief. I graduated from the Department’s second Interactive Citizens Academy as part of its October 2022 class. The classes were held at night while Police Chief Donna McNamara worked days. I never saw McNamara there, but I did have to miss a few classes. Stoughton Police Lieutenant John Bonney was the main instructor, and Deputy Chief Brian Holmes led many of the classes alongside Bonney.

Police Chief John Bonney now leads Abington, while Police Chief Brian Holmes now leads — drum roll — Kingston; they’re different types of guys, but they’re both good guys. The Department’s own graduation post thanked McNamara and Holmes for their support; McNamara didn’t need to sit in the back of every nighttime class to have supported the program. Stoughton’s classroom now has two police chiefs carrying its lessons into other towns.

“None of this could have happened without … the enormous support of Chief McNamara & Deputy Chief Brian Holmes.”²⁴

Stoughton’s academy didn’t sell us bumper sticker police work: the class talked about qualified immunity, which still sticks in my craw. The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office brought its Mobile Command Center, an expandable recreational vehicle built to carry emergency operations into the field. The class watched a K-9 demonstration and a drone display whose camera could see the front door of Planet Fitness from the Stoughton Police Department parking lot. The class toured the Norfolk County Correctional Center in Dedham and visited the Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee (MPTC) Randolph Police Academy — it’s a mouthful — where students trained on FAAC’s Multiple Interactive Learning Objectives (MILO) Force Control Simulator. I missed both off-site visits because I had to take care of our daughters while their mom was working.²⁵

During one class, I broke down in tears when then-Deputy Chief Brian Holmes discussed an intraosseous-access device that drives a needle through the shin bone and into the marrow when a vein can’t be reached. The same type of device had been used on my son J. C. during his sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) episode. J. C. died in Cleveland, Ohio — Stoughton wasn’t involved — but that class tied my personal history to the work of police officers and firefighters.

The Stoughton Police Department ran two academies that point in opposite directions: Sandra Birchmore entered the Stoughton Police Explorers at only 12 years old while I entered the Citizens Academy as an adult. The federal Affidavit in Support of Detention describes the Explorers as a quasi-paramilitary youth program, then alleges that former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew “Matt” Farwell used his badge, his instructor’s role, and the access supplied by that program to groom Birchmore before sexually abusing her at only 15. The Citizens Academy put adults through background checks, brought officers and outside agencies into a visible classroom, and tried to demystify policing through scenarios instead of mystifying police officers through authority. The Police Explorers handed an officer institutional access to a child; the Citizens Academy showed me the Department that Police Chief Donna McNamara, Deputy Chief Brian Holmes, and Lieutenant John Bonney were trying to build. Stoughton owns the juxtaposition because both programs carried the Department’s name.

“The Stoughton Police Department chartered and facilitated the Stoughton Police Explorers.”²⁶

Police Chief Donna McNamara is a heroine, and the depth and breadth of the investigation that she ordered make the point better than another adjective. The day after Sandra Birchmore was found dead, McNamara directed Deputy Chief Brian Holmes to investigate every possible violation of Stoughton Police policy by any employee. Holmes’s sixty-page report says McNamara received weekly updates, with more frequent briefings whenever the evidence demanded attention. McNamara and Holmes met with Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, his First Assistant, and members of the Massachusetts State Police; Norfolk County listened, held the report, and brought no murder charge before Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Boston arrested Matthew Farwell. McNamara joined the post-interview credibility briefings, received the resignations, and signed an agency-head certification telling the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST) that former Stoughton Police Officer William Farwell wasn’t fit for police work.²⁷

Deputy Chief Brian Holmes didn’t run a paper exercise. Holmes’s investigators reviewed about fifty thousand pages of computer communications before receiving two cell-phone extractions in Cellebrite format. Holmes’s team locked the Department’s internal records, preserved evidence on a terabyte drive, searched criminal-justice queries, opened old Police Explorers files, and reviewed devices, social media, surveillance, work records, paid-detail records, school records, pet-adoption files, apartment records, and an earlier internal-affairs case. The Town hired retired Massachusetts State Police Captain Paul J. L’Italien, retired Detective Lieutenant Robert Fries, and retired Detective Sergeant Michael Bates, an internet-forensics specialist. Holmes coordinated with Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant John Fanning and Trooper Kathleen Prince, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, State Police Crime Laboratory Detective Lieutenant Kenneth Heffernan and forensics technician Jennifer Preisig, FBI Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Kate Kelley, and military authorities. Holmes’s team interviewed former Police Explorers, Stoughton officers, family, and civilian witnesses, then drafted interviews for the officers who resigned before they could be compelled to answer. CBS Boston reported the final scope as nearly one hundred thousand pages of cellphone data, a dozen interviews, and several outside experts.²⁸

Retired Massachusetts State Police Captain Paul J. L’Italien had already worked inside an investigation commissioned by then-Attorney General Maura Healey. In 2015, after Healey appointed retired Judge Peter Velis to investigate the handling of the Sonja Farak drug-lab scandal, the Massachusetts State Police assigned L’Italien to the inquiry.²⁹ By 2021, L’Italien had entered Stoughton’s first Birchmore investigation as one of McNamara and Holmes’s outside investigators.

Who brought L’Italien into Stoughton’s mix?

Massachusetts is a small state; its institutions travel in tighter circles.

“Per policy, the Chief of Police received weekly updates as to the progress of this investigation.”³⁰

Police Chief Donna McNamara chose her own phrase in June of 2024: she’d kept turning relevant information over to the “appropriate agencies”. Norfolk County had already sat across the table from McNamara and Holmes, but FBI Boston eventually became the appropriate agency with an arrest warrant. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) credits the Stoughton Police Department with assisting the federal investigation. Neither the federal Affidavit in Support of Detention nor the Indictment names McNamara or Holmes, but McNamara ordered the archive built, Holmes worked the case, and federal investigators later combined old evidence with critical new evidence to obtain an arrest. McNamara’s “appropriate agencies” eventually acquired a proper noun: FBI Boston.

“…follow every lead and shine light on all aspects of this horrific chapter in our history, no matter what.” — Police Chief Donna McNamara³¹

Some people will blame Police Chief Donna McNamara because she served in the Department while former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell used its badge, its youth program, and its trust. Sandra Birchmore’s orbit didn’t stop with Matthew Farwell, former Stoughton Police Officer William Farwell, and former Stoughton Police Officer Robert Devine. Boston 25 News reported that former Stoughton Animal Control Officer (ACO) and later Abington Police Officer Joshua Heal first denied a sexual relationship with Birchmore, then acknowledged one sexual encounter during a second interview. The Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission later recorded a disposition in which Heal admitted no facts but agreed never to seek recertification or law-enforcement employment in Massachusetts.³² The Department’s rot carried more names than one federal indictment.

On October 9th, 2018, Joshua Heal stood inside my home in his Stoughton Animal Control uniform, holding the injured bird that I called “Good Sam”. Facebook dates my post to that same day. The Photos app still carries the matching sequence from about 2:40 that afternoon. Heal’s image will stay out of this piece, but you can find it on Facebook.³³ McNamara inherited the rot, ordered Holmes to cut into it, and led a command that carried the findings into POST, the District Attorney, another police department, the military chain of command, and the federal investigation.

Stoughton’s investigation even uncovered inappropriate communication with a military recruiter and reached toward the appropriate chain of command.³⁴ I served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard (MAARNG), so that institutional turn caught my eye. Stoughton’s investigation kept widening because the conduct kept crossing lines.

The Second Report

Police Chief Donna McNamara’s verified complaint, filed earlier today, drops the biggest bomb in this piece: she alleges that she opened a second Birchmore-related internal investigation in 2024 and produced a second report. Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter allegedly called that report a “hit piece” and repeatedly demanded its destruction, but McNamara refused his directive. McNamara further alleges that she told Calter in June of 2026 that her cooperation with FBI Boston and the coming federal trial could expose more misconduct requiring new internal-affairs (IA) investigations.

“…Calter demanded that McNamara destroy it, referring to it as a ‘hit piece.’”³⁵

Police Chief Donna McNamara’s complaint flips a political cliché against Calter. Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter was the right guy, in the right place, at the right time for a demand — alleged under oath — to make the second Birchmore report disappear. Calter supplied the directional map himself: the depot showed his appetite for ownership, and Kingston showed his response to resistance. Stoughton’s five Select Board members had already confronted Calter with Kingston’s “Facebook controversy” before voting unanimously to hand Calter the Town Manager’s office. McNamara now alleges that Calter aimed the Town Manager’s office at the Police Chief who refused to destroy the report he called a “hit piece”.³⁶

On July 7th, 2026, an unnamed Stoughton Police Department member went directly to Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter and Town Counsel. The Department member accused Police Chief Donna McNamara of “berating him” and causing stress, according to the verified complaint. Calter and Town Counsel summoned McNamara that same day. McNamara alleges that they conducted no investigation and made no attempt at fact-finding before telling her to resign “with dignity” or face immediate termination. Calter then barred McNamara from the police station.

“With no investigation or attempt at fact-finding…”³⁷

McNamara refused to resign. On July 20th, McNamara filed a formal harassment complaint against Calter with the Select Board. On July 21st, McNamara lost access to her work email. On July 22nd, McNamara learned through the media that an Acting Police Chief had been named while Calter’s Department-wide email portrayed McNamara’s refusal to resign as a voluntary departure. McNamara’s complaint says that the Select Board took no action on her employment on July 20th or July 23rd.³⁸

Who knew that the second Birchmore report existed? Who read the second report? Was the unnamed Department member named in that report or expected to surface during the federal trial? Did that employee go to Calter before or after McNamara’s June warning about additional misconduct? Did the Select Board know that Calter had allegedly demanded the report’s destruction?

Who Manages Whom

Police Chief Donna McNamara’s work crossed the same institutional geography that surrounded Juston Root’s death and later John O’Keefe’s death. Boston Police and a Massachusetts State Trooper crossed into Brookline, placing Root’s death inside Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s jurisdiction, while Canton Police and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to Morrissey later defined the O’Keefe investigation.³⁹ Root, Birchmore, and O’Keefe sit inside one county, overlapping investigators, and federal scrutiny, giving “coincidence” an index.

From 2007 through 2010, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey and former State Representative Thomas “Tom” Calter overlapped on Beacon Hill. The Massachusetts State Police detective units investigate deaths and other major crimes while assigned to district attorney offices. Morrissey later called federal grand jury scrutiny of the O’Keefe investigation a “highly unusual and possibly abusive exercise of power”. In response, federal lawyers said that their inquiry was essential in light of the information they possessed. Morrissey’s written objection puts the institutional collision on paper.⁴⁰

During the 2020 death of Juston Root, the 2021 death of Sandra Birchmore, and the 2022 death of John O’Keefe, Maura Healey served as Massachusetts Attorney General. Root’s family asked Governor Charles “Charlie” Baker and Attorney General Healey for an independent investigation after Morrissey’s office found the police shooting justified. Massachusetts law gave the Attorney General authority to investigate suspected violations affecting the public welfare and control, when present, cases otherwise handled by district attorneys.⁴¹

What did Attorney General Healey know? What did her office receive, decline, refer, or investigate? What did the Attorney General do when Juston Root’s family asked her to investigate the institutions of Norfolk County?

Governor Maura Healey later supplied the standard herself:

“Anything like that has got to be fully investigated and perpetrators have got to be held accountable.” — Governor Maura Healey⁴²

NBC10 Boston caught Governor Healey placing the Commonwealth behind the same federal investigation:

“I’m glad the U.S. Attorney’s Office is investigating and state police and the medical examiner’s office will continue to work with them to get to the bottom of what happened.” — Governor Maura Healey⁴³

Stoughton’s second report belongs inside Healey’s “fully”.

Who knew that the second Birchmore report existed? Who read the second report? Who had something to lose if the report survived and the federal trial opened more doors? Did pressure begin inside Stoughton’s police orbit, among self-appointed keepers of the Thin Blue Line, in Norfolk County, within the Massachusetts State Police (MSP), or on Beacon Hill? Did somebody high up in Massachusetts government get into Town Manager Thomas “Tom” Calter’s ear? Whose hand carried the pressure? Is somebody managing Calter?

I don’t know the answers to those questions. Today’s complaint makes the questions unavoidable. The Town of Stoughton and FBI Boston have to ask.

Stoughton’s Charter answers one version of the question: the Town Manager “shall be subject to the direction and supervision” of the Select Board and serves at its will. Select Board Chairman Stephen “Steve” Cavey’s campaign page runs that relationship backward because Cavey calls Calter “a mentor and a friend.” Stoughton hired Calter to manage Town government. Its Chairman then publicly placed himself beneath Calter’s mentorship. Who is managing whom?⁴⁴

Police Chief Donna McNamara isn’t beyond criticism because no badge or public office grants immunity. Stoughton’s response to its Police Chief’s complaint against its Town Manager is the question. Stoughton can investigate McNamara’s complaint, follow the contract, give her detailed written reasons for any removal, publish its findings, and state the authority behind each action. Stoughton can treat the title Town Manager as a substitute for Thomas Calter’s answer to Police Chief Donna McNamara’s allegations, converting institutional silence into personal power. Stoughton should choose the first because bullies convert silence into power through the second route.

Select Board Chairman Stephen “Steve” Cavey now has to decide whether he represents Calter’s mentorship or Stoughton’s government because their friendship doesn’t disqualify Cavey and the mentorship doesn’t immunize Calter. Cavey can’t campaign on Calter’s endorsement while treating Calter’s conduct as somebody else’s personnel matter. If Cavey wants a seat on Beacon Hill, he can start by using the one in Stoughton.

I opened with a punch in the mouth, but a public punch doesn’t need a fist; it needs names, dates, contracts, votes, and daylight. Calter has had a pulpit on Beacon Hill, in Kingston, and in Stoughton. McNamara has a complaint, a contract, and a record of turning her own Department against its rot. The Select Board should stop hiding behind the Town Manager it hired and require Stoughton to follow the Charter, special acts, and contract law. When the records open, the hearing begins, and the vote lands, Calter will finally hear Stoughton’s answer.

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Source Notes

1. Town of Stoughton, Stoughton Awarded $2,000,000 Grant for Train Depot Rehab/Conversion to Community Center Project, October 15th, 2024, stating that the grant application moved under Town Manager Thomas Calter’s direction and that Calter appointed Select Board Member Joseph Mokrisky to lead design and construction; Town of Stoughton Community Preservation Committee, January 7th, 2026 meeting minutes, recording the project as “Tom’s baby” and describing Calter’s personal involvement. The records establish Calter’s executive sponsorship and public ownership of the project; they do not establish that Calter personally selected every material or finish. ↩︎
2. Town Manager Thomas Calter, An Update on the Train Station — FAQs, October 6th, 2025, citing water damage, mold, and termite infestation to defend drywall and the loss of wood paneling; United States Environmental Protection Agency, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings Guide: Chapter 5, Table 2, listing several cleanup methods for wood surfaces; National Park Service, The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, favoring maintenance and repair over extensive replacement. The federal guidance requires project-specific professional judgment and does not determine which depot materials were salvageable. The Town’s public FAQ supplies no environmental assessment, moisture readings, salvage inventory, or alternatives analysis. ↩︎
3. Town Manager Thomas Calter, South School Independent Working Group, his September 4th, 2024 letter. Calter wrote that the working group needed no agendas, public invitations, public recognition, minutes, or recordings while inviting residents to attend and calling the group “a model of public participation and transparency”. The quoted sentence states Calter’s reason for excluding video from the working group. ↩︎
4. Stoughton Media Access Corporation versus Town of Stoughton, Massachusetts, Thomas Calter III, Stephen Cavey, and Joseph Mokrisky, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, docket 1:25-cv-10886, Complaint and Jury Demand, filed April 10th, 2025, paragraphs 2 and 37–54, alleging threats, coercion, retaliation, and interference intended to influence SMAC’s programming; Town of Stoughton Committee on Finance and Taxation, March 12th, 2026 minutes, recording Calter’s announcement that the lawsuit had been dismissed and that the parties had agreed to a ten-year contract. The complaint contains allegations rather than findings, and the cited dismissal record supplies no judgment on the merits. ↩︎
5. Jonathan Bowen, June 30th, 2026 LinkedIn profile export, listing a Massachusetts Real Estate Broker license, an unrestricted Construction Supervisor License, Jonathan Bowen Real Estate, Star Construction, Navy Seabee Builder service and training at Port Hueneme, and Massachusetts Army National Guard service as an engineer officer after Engineer Officer Basic Course at Fort Leonard Wood; Town of Stoughton Downtown Redevelopment Task Force, September 6th, 2018 open-session minutes, listing Bowen as a member, and January 2nd, 2020 meeting packet, recording his departure. Bowen’s July 5th, 2018 swearing-in date and 2019 departure are firsthand dates; the posted Town records confirm service during that period and the departure by January 2020. ↩︎
6. Town of Stoughton, 2019 Annual Town Report, “Film Projects,” reporting that the Economic Development Director, Interim Town Manager, and Building Facilities Manager worked with MassFilm and Sony to film a “Little Women” scene at the Stoughton Train Depot on October 12th, 2018; Massachusetts Film Office, Want to Feel Like You’re in “Little Women” This Fall? Visit These Filming Locations in Massachusetts, October 15th, 2025, identifying the depot as Concord’s station and describing its then-largely unchanged interior as a historically accurate choice; National Park Service, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places listings, listing the Stoughton Railroad Station with a January 21st, 1974 registration date. The sources establish the location, historical fit, and National Register status; they do not itemize every interior and exterior shot. ↩︎
7. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Chapter 474 of the Acts of 1978, approved July 17th, 1978; Town of Stoughton, section C4-2(C) of Article 4 of the Charter. The special act authorizes removal of the Police Chief by the Town Manager only after a hearing and a finding that the public interest requires removal. The authority must be read with the later Charter amendment, the employment contract, and the action actually taken. ↩︎
8. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Chapter 250 of the Acts of 1993; Town of Stoughton, section C3-3(G) of Article 3 of the Charter. The amendment placed appointment of the Police Chief with the Select Board and states that the listed appointees serve at the Board’s will. The text contains no express repeal of the 1978 removal route. ↩︎
9. Massachusetts General Court, General Laws Chapter 41, section 108O; Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, filed July 27th, 2026, Attachment B, sections 18(A)–(C); section C10-2 of the Town of Stoughton Charter. McNamara’s 2025 employment agreement says that the Select Board may remove her under section C10-2, which requires detailed written reasons. The agreement requires McNamara to submit a resignation through the Town Manager to the Select Board with at least sixty days’ written notice by certified mail, and it provides twelve months of continued salary and benefits if the Select Board terminates her without cause. The statute gives employment contracts authority over conflicting local personnel rules and preserves municipal removal powers in the absence of conflicting contract language. The court has not determined which removal route controls or whether the Town violated the agreement. ↩︎
10. Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, filed July 27th, 2026, Counts I–II and Prayer for Relief; Boston 25 News’s July 27th, 2026 report on McNamara’s lawsuit. McNamara alleges breach of contract and effective removal without the procedures required by her employment agreement, and she asks the court to compel compliance and restore her duties. The filing requests relief without establishing that the contract controls or that any removal was lawful. Boston 25 attributes the quoted statement to McNamara’s attorney, Leah Barrault. ↩︎
11. Kingston Reporter, Boncek Files Civility Complaint Against Town Administrator, January 17th, 2019, updated January 21st, 2019, presenting Peter Boncek’s complaint and Calter’s competing account; Massachusetts Supervisor of Records, SPR19/245 determination, addressing Calter’s request for the January 10th meeting audio and ordering Kingston to supplement its response or demonstrate lawful destruction. The records determination concerns preservation of the audio and does not adjudicate Boncek’s civility complaint. ↩︎
12. Plympton-Halifax-Kingston Express, Tax Bill Woes for Former Rep. Calter, February 7th, 2019, reporting that Halifax assessors declined to abate $12,511.09 in personal-property tax and delinquent interest that assessors said RKP Capital, LLC, owed for equipment at the Jordan Fitness Center. The article identifies Town Administrator Thomas Calter as RKP Capital’s principal, says that Calter and his wife operated the gym from 2010 through 2012, records Calter’s claim that he had not received the bills or owned the gym during part of the assessed period, and reports his $1,151.20 proposal and stated intention to appeal. Peter Boncek recorded the assessors’ meeting. The quoted sentence is Calter’s explanation for disputing the assessment. The article documents a disputed corporate tax assessment and does not establish that Calter personally owed the final amount. ↩︎
13. Kingston Reporter, Complaints After Complaints, February 28th, 2019, quoting Peter Boncek’s opinions that Calter was playing a vindictive game and had an anger-management problem affecting elected officials and Town employees; Massachusetts Election Statistics, Thomas Calter III, recording Boncek as Calter’s 2016 general-election opponent. Boncek’s quoted language is an attributed opinion from a former political opponent. ↩︎
14. Kingston Reporter’s March 3rd, 2020 report on the Kingston conduct-policy investigation. The report describes the restaurant argument, the investigation’s finding that Calter and Jessica Kramer violated Kingston’s conduct policy, and Kramer’s supporters outside the executive session. The report records the investigation and public response rather than an independent reconstruction of the restaurant encounter. ↩︎
15. Kingston Town Politics, Town Administrator Tom Calter’s Bullying Behavior Exposed, uploaded February 13th, 2020, at approximately 1:58–2:08. Daniel Harlow’s quoted statement identifies the comments he attributed to Calter and their personal reference to Harlow’s dead father. The visible meeting video and its automatic captions carry Harlow’s accusation. ↩︎
16. Kingston Town Politics, Town Administrator Tom Calter’s Bullying Behavior Exposed, uploaded February 13th, 2020; Town of Kingston, 2019 Annual Town Report, listing Tammy A. Murray among Kingston’s five selectmen. The video shows Joshua Warren’s response, Murray’s statement that the matter would not return as an open-agenda item, and Calter’s silence during the visible exchange. The description of Calter’s posture is a visual reading rather than evidence of his internal state. The uploader advocated for the recall of Warren and Elaine Fiore, and the body does not adopt the uploader’s title or the anonymous opening audio as fact. ↩︎
17. Town of Stoughton Select Board, October 27th, 2022 minutes, documenting the finalist interviews, all five Board members, Cavey’s question about failure, and Calter’s answer that he was responsible for a “Facebook controversy” and had learned to “just walk away”; November 1st, 2022 minutes, recording Gitto’s nomination of Calter, Roberts’s nomination of Yvonne Spicer, the Board’s unanimous vote for Calter, and Cavey’s motion for Town Counsel to draft Calter’s contract; December 2nd, 2022 minutes, recording Roberts, Cavey, and Gitto’s 3–0 approval of the amended contract while Carrara and Mokrisky recused from contract votes because of relationships with Town employees. The appointment vote was unanimous; the later contract vote was not a five-member substantive vote. ↩︎
18. Massachusetts General Court, Representative Thomas Calter, identifying Calter’s 2007–2018 service and four committee assignments; Massachusetts House of Representatives, 2015 House Journal, listing Calter among the members who voted for Robert DeLeo as Speaker; Massachusetts House of Representatives, Yea and Nay 12, recording Calter’s vote against retaining an eight-year limit on the Speaker’s tenure; WBUR, Mass. House Approves Expansive Pay Raise Bill as Baker Casts Shade, January 25th, 2017, identifying Calter among nine House Democrats who opposed the leadership pay package; Plympton-Halifax-Kingston Express, Who Will Be the Next Rep?, November 1st, 2018, reporting that Calter left Beacon Hill to serve as Kingston’s Town Administrator. The sources establish occasional dissent within DeLeo’s majority and a voluntary move to municipal management; they do not establish a sustained feud, retaliation, or political defeat. ↩︎
19. Kingston Reporter’s March 3rd, 2020 report on the Kingston conduct-policy investigation. The report quotes Calter apologizing to Kingston residents and naming Chairman Joshua Warren, Vice Chairman Elaine Fiore, and Member Sandy MacFarlane. The article quotes no direct apology to Jessica Kramer, and it identifies the recall effort as targeting Warren and Fiore. ↩︎
20. WATD’s July 30th, 2020 report, Kingston: Tom Calter Resigns as Town Administrator. Kingston accepted Calter’s resignation effective that day after an executive session; Calter had signed a three-year contract in 2018, Jessica Kramer recused herself from the vote, and Chairman Richard Arruda read the quoted statement for the Board. ↩︎
21. Boston 25 News’s July 23rd, 2026 reports, Stoughton Police Chief Says She Was Forced Out After Filing Complaint Against Town Manager and Stoughton Residents Demand Answers as Police Chief’s Future Remains Uncertain. McNamara’s lawyer said she was told to resign or face termination, while a Select Board member later said McNamara remained Chief as another officer filled the role. The reporting establishes a statewide dispute rather than a legally completed removal. ↩︎
22. The July 26th–27th, 2026 Facebook exchange under Jonathan Bowen’s Stoughton News post. The commenter identified herself as a Kingston town employee, and the article withholds her name. The quotation removes a direct tag and capitalizes the first letter of the second comment while preserving the commenter’s substantive wording and capitalization. Her assertion that documents reached Stoughton’s Board has not been matched to the transmitted documents. ↩︎
23. Steve Cavey for Rep, Facebook post announcing Thomas Calter’s endorsement, June 18th, 2026, calling Calter “a mentor and a friend” and describing his advice, wisdom, and encouragement as invaluable; Steve Cavey for Rep, Facebook post showing Calter with Cavey’s sign-holding group outside the Avon Public Library, July 13th, 2026, calling the participants “friends and supporters”; Boston Globe, Three Challenge Trio of Selectmen Facing Recall, October 25th, 2017, reporting that Cavey filed nomination papers for the December 2017 special election. Bowen’s Starbucks meeting with Cavey and description of him are firsthand. The campaign posts establish endorsement, mentorship, and participation in a campaign event without identifying a campaign manager. ↩︎
24. Stoughton Police Department, October 27th, 2022 Facebook post, reporting the prior night’s graduation of the sixteen-member “ICA-2022-2” class and thanking Chief Donna McNamara and Deputy Chief Brian Holmes for their support; Town of Abington, Abington Appoints New Police Chief, August 13th, 2024, identifying John Bonney’s Stoughton service before his appointment as Abington’s Chief; Town of Kingston, Police Department, identifying Brian Holmes as Kingston’s Police Chief. Bowen’s attendance, the nighttime schedule, the classes missed, and Bonney’s and Holmes’s classroom roles are firsthand. ↩︎
25. Stoughton Police Department, October 27th, 2022 Facebook post, describing the command vehicle, K-9, drone, jail, and Randolph-academy components; Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, Special Operations Division, identifying the Mobile Command Center; Massachusetts Municipal Police Training Committee, Randolph Police Academy, identifying the MILO Force Control Simulator. The Planet Fitness drone view, qualified-immunity discussion, missed off-site visits, and family-care reason are firsthand. ↩︎
26. United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Affidavit in Support of Detention, filed August 28th, 2024, paragraphs 10–12, describing the Stoughton Police Explorers as a quasi-paramilitary youth program chartered and facilitated by the Department and alleging that Matthew Farwell used his authority as an officer and instructor to groom and sexually abuse Birchmore beginning when she was fifteen; Stoughton Police Department, October 27th, 2022 Facebook post, describing the adult Citizens Academy. The federal affidavit contains allegations, and the contrast between the programs is the article’s analysis. ↩︎
27. Stoughton Police Department, Internal Affairs Case 21-1-IA, Brian Holmes to Donna McNamara, dated February 8th, 2021 and completed August 29th, 2022, pages 1–4, 17–31, and 58–60, recording McNamara’s directive, weekly updates, credibility briefings, outside investigators, and interagency meetings; Stoughton Police Department, William Farwell POST certification and correspondence, including McNamara’s signed agency-head certification; Town of Stoughton, August–September 2022 Town Manager and Police report, pages 10–11, stating that the Massachusetts POST Commission relied on the comprehensiveness and findings of 21-1-IA; United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Former Massachusetts Police Officer Arrested in Connection with Murder of Young Woman, August 28th, 2024, announcing the federal arrest. The records establish the investigative and charging chronology without establishing why Norfolk County brought no murder charge. ↩︎
28. Stoughton Police Department, Internal Affairs Case 21-1-IA, pages 17–31 and 58–60, recording digital-forensics work, device and record review, witness interviews, outside investigators, interagency referrals, and proposed continuation for former Explorers who might come forward; CBS Boston, “Lies, Deceit, and Treachery”: Investigation Finds 3 Former Stoughton Police Officers Had Inappropriate Relationship with Young Woman, September 23rd, 2022, reporting nearly one hundred thousand pages of cellphone data, twelve interviews, and several outside experts. Redactions prevent a complete reconstruction of every witness and referral. ↩︎
29. Peter A. Velis and Thomas F. Merrigan, Report to Attorney General Maura Healey, May 2016, pages 1–2, recording Healey’s appointment of Velis and the Massachusetts State Police assignment of Detective Captain Paul J. L’Italien and Captain James F. Coughlin; Boston University, Paul J. L’Italien profile, identifying L’Italien’s Massachusetts State Police and Crime Laboratory background; Stoughton Police Department, Internal Affairs Case 21-1-IA, identifying L’Italien as one of Stoughton’s outside investigators. The sources establish L’Italien’s roles in both inquiries without identifying who selected him for Stoughton. ↩︎
30. Stoughton Police Department, Internal Affairs Case 21-1-IA, page 17. The report states that the Police Chief received weekly progress updates and more frequent briefings after significant investigative events. ↩︎
31. Stoughton Police Department, Statement of Chief Donna McNamara, June 24th, 2024, stating that McNamara directly participated, followed every lead, uncovered relevant information, and continued turning information over to appropriate agencies; Stoughton Police Department, Statement of Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara, August 28th, 2024, stating that the Department supported the FBI investigation; United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Former Massachusetts Police Officer Arrested in Connection with Murder of Young Woman, August 28th, 2024, crediting the Stoughton Police Department among the assisting agencies; Affidavit in Support of Detention and Indictment, filed August 28th, 2024 in federal court. The federal filings do not name McNamara or Holmes or trace a particular item of evidence to either officer. ↩︎
32. Boston 25 News, Former Officer Found “Non-Credible” in 2021 Birchmore Probe Still Certified, September 30th, 2024; Abington News, Heal No Longer with Abington Police, September 4th, 2023; Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, 2025 Annual Report, page 20. The reporting says Joshua Heal first denied a sexual relationship with Sandra Birchmore and changed his answer during a second interview. The POST Commission says Heal admitted no facts but agreed never again to seek recertification or law-enforcement employment in Massachusetts after allegations that he had been untruthful during an outside agency’s internal-affairs investigation and a meeting with his police chief. ↩︎
33. Jonathan Bowen’s October 9th, 2018 Facebook photograph. The public post identifies Stoughton Animal Control Officer Joshua Heal, names the injured bird “Good Sam,” and tags Hub Edge Realty in Stoughton. The matching sequence in Bowen’s Photos library is time-stamped at about 2:40 p.m. that day. The article does not reproduce the image. ↩︎
34. CBS Boston, “Lies, Deceit, and Treachery”: Investigation Finds 3 Former Stoughton Police Officers Had Inappropriate Relationship with Young Woman, September 23rd, 2022, reporting inappropriate communication involving a military recruiter and Stoughton’s plan to notify the appropriate military chain of command. ↩︎
35. Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, filed July 27th, 2026, paragraphs 25–26. McNamara alleges that she opened a second Birchmore-related internal investigation in 2024, that Calter repeatedly demanded destruction of its report while calling the document a “hit piece,” and that she refused. McNamara also alleges that she told Calter in June 2026 that FBI trial preparation could expose additional misconduct requiring new internal-affairs investigations. McNamara signed the complaint under the pains and penalties of perjury; the court has not adjudicated the allegations. ↩︎
36. Town of Stoughton Select Board, October 27th, 2022 minutes, recording the Board’s questions about Calter’s Kingston controversy and Calter’s response; November 1st, 2022 minutes, recording the unanimous appointment; Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, paragraphs 25–26, alleging Calter’s later demand to destroy the second report. The sources jointly establish the hiring warning and the later verified allegation that form the paragraph’s hinge; the court has not adjudicated McNamara’s allegation. ↩︎
37. Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, filed July 27th, 2026, paragraphs 28–36. The complaint alleges that an unnamed Department member went directly to Calter and Town Counsel on July 7th, accused McNamara of berating him and causing stress, and prompted a resignation ultimatum before any investigation or fact-finding process. The court has not adjudicated the allegations. ↩︎
38. Donna McNamara versus Town of Stoughton and Thomas Calter, Norfolk Superior Court docket 2682CV00852, Verified Complaint and Jury Demand, filed July 27th, 2026, paragraphs 35–53 and Attachments C–E. The complaint alleges the station ban, McNamara’s refusal to resign, her July 20th harassment complaint, the July 21st loss of email access, the July 22nd appointment of an Acting Police Chief and portrayal of a voluntary departure, and the Select Board’s failure to act during its July 20th and July 23rd meetings. The court has not determined whether the Town or Calter violated McNamara’s agreement or any law. ↩︎
39. Stoughton Police Department, Statement of Chief Donna McNamara, June 24th, 2024, stating that Stoughton had no jurisdiction over Birchmore’s death but had uncovered and transmitted relevant information to appropriate agencies; NBC10 Boston, How the Sandra Birchmore and Karen Read Death Investigations Are Connected, August 29th, 2024, describing overlapping Canton police officers, state troopers, and Norfolk County prosecutors. The sources establish institutional overlap without establishing that McNamara’s work supplied, shaped, or advanced the federal investigation of John O’Keefe’s death. ↩︎
40. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Massachusetts State Police Specialized Units, describing State Police detective units and their death and major-felony investigations; Massachusetts General Court, Senator Michael Morrissey, recording his service through 2010, and Representative Thomas Calter, recording Calter’s service beginning in 2007; Boston.com, Unsealed Letters Reveal DA’s Communication with Feds over Karen Read Investigation, January 23rd, 2024, quoting Morrissey’s objection and the federal response. The sources establish the State Police–district attorney structure, Morrissey and Calter’s legislative overlap, and documented friction between Morrissey and federal investigators. The sources identify no instruction or communication from Morrissey to Calter. ↩︎
41. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Attorney General Healey biography, identifying Maura Healey’s service as Attorney General; Boston.com, Root Family Calls for Independent Investigation, October 23rd, 2020, reporting that Root’s family asked Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Healey to open an independent investigation after Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office found the police shooting justified; Massachusetts General Court, General Laws Chapter 12, section 10 and section 27, describing the Attorney General’s investigatory authority and control, when present, of cases otherwise handled by district attorneys. The chronology and statutory authority support the questions in the body without identifying any communication between Healey and Calter. ↩︎
42. GBH’s September 6th, 2024 report, Healey Says She Wants “Justice Done for Sandra Birchmore”. Governor Maura Healey said that allegations like those in the federal Birchmore case must be fully investigated, that perpetrators must be held accountable, and that she wanted justice for Birchmore and her family. ↩︎
43. NBC10 Boston’s September 3rd, 2024 report, “Her Family Deserves Answers and She Deserves Justice”: Governor Healey Weighs in on Sandra Birchmore Case. Governor Maura Healey said that she was glad the United States Attorney’s Office was investigating and that the Massachusetts State Police and the medical examiner’s office would continue working with federal investigators. NBC10 Boston published the remarks after the federal indictment of former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell. ↩︎
44. Town of Stoughton Charter, section C3-3(C), stating that the Town Manager is subject to the Select Board’s direction and supervision and serves at its will, and section C4-1, stating that the Town Manager carries out the Board’s policies and plans; Steve Cavey for Rep, Facebook post announcing Thomas Calter’s endorsement, June 18th, 2026, calling Calter “a mentor and a friend”. The Charter establishes formal supervision, while Cavey’s campaign post establishes the personal and political inversion described in the body. ↩︎