Ex-Prosecutor, Ferguson Monitor To Lead Rosenberg Probe

BOSTON (AP) — A trio of independent investigators chosen to lead an ethics investigation involving state Sen. Stan Rosenberg includes an ex-federal prosecutor who helped secure convictions in the corruption trial of a former Massachusetts House speaker and a one-time police officer who is part of a team monitoring police reforms in Ferguson, Missouri.

Anthony Fuller, Natashia Tidwell and Jody Newman, an expert in employment law, are attorneys from the Boston law firm Hogan Lovells, which the Senate Ethics Committee tapped on Monday as special investigator for the politically sensitive probe.

Earlier this month, Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, stepped aside as Senate President — at least temporarily — after The Boston Globe reported on several unnamed men who had accused his husband, Bryon Hefner, of sexual assault and harassment.

The investigation is expected to focus on whether Rosenberg violated any Senate rules in connection with the allegations against his husband. He's denied knowledge of Hefner's alleged behavior. The committee has promised to make public the special investigator's final report.

It was not immediately known how much the law firm will be paid.

A brief look at the lead investigators, based on biographies provided by the firm and previous reporting by The Associated Press:

___

ANTHONY FULLER:

Fuller served for six years as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston and prosecuted several white-collar and political corruption cases, most notably the trial of former Democratic House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi.

The once powerful lawmaker was convicted on extortion and other charges in connection with a scheme to steer a lucrative state contract to a software firm in exchange for payments. DiMasi was released in 2016 after serving five years in federal prison.

Fuller currently defends corporations and their executives in civil and criminal investigations, according to Hogan Lovells.

The Georgetown University Law School graduate served in the U.S. Marine Corps and saw combat action in the first Gulf War.

___

NATASHIA TIDWELL:

A onetime Cambridge police lieutenant, Tidwell has served as a federal monitor overseeing a consent agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb where a black teenager, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by a white police officer in 2014.

In November, Tidwell became the lead monitor on the team enforcing the 2016 agreement that calls for reforms, such as hiring more black officers and requiring diversity training for police.

After graduating from New England School of Law, she was a federal prosecutor in the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts.

In 2007, she helped secure the conviction of two former Mississippi state judges and a private attorney charged in a bribery scheme.

___

JODY NEWMAN:

Newman has represented Hogan Lovells clients in a range of employment disputes, including contract and discrimination cases, according to her online biography.

A 1983 graduate of Suffolk University Law School, she is experienced in civil litigation and has conducted training for businesses in employment law.

Newman also is a certified mediator in Massachusetts and a member of the American Arbitration Association's Employment Law Panel.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)