AG Says No Criminal Charges In State Police Report-Altering Scandal
BOSTON (CBS ) - The state attorney general says no criminal charges will be filed after a report-altering scandal at the Massachusetts State Police, but she is referring the case to the State Ethics Commission.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office conducted "an extensive investigation" following the Alli Bibaud scandal, the judge's daughter whose arrest report was altered on orders of then Col. Richard McKeon. McKeon and his top assistant retired last year.
"Our office conducted an extensive investigation into this matter and determined that the evidence does not support filing criminal charges," Healey said in a statement Friday. "While the revisions to the police report raise questions under our state ethics laws, we found that they were not made with criminal intent to prejudice Bibaud's prosecution. However, because of our concerns about potential civil ethics violations, we are referring the matter to the State Ethics Commission."
READ: The full report by Kevin Burke and Nancy McGillivray released Friday.
McKeon's "orders to revise the arrest report... were the result of flawed judgement," according to the report released Friday.
The report states that as part of their investigation, Burke and McGillivray interviewed 13 individuals and reviewed transcripts of interviews conducted by Healey; state police reports and related text messages and e-mails; state police policies and procedures; annual employee evaluations; federal complaints and related documents; and media reports on the matter.
The two troopers who blew the whistle on the cover up have filed a federal lawsuit.
The suit, filed in federal court last year, said Trooper Ryan Sceviour responded to a car crash the evening of Oct. 16 in Worcester. He arrested the female driver after she allegedly failed field sobriety tests. The suit said she also indicated she had a heroin addiction.
According to the lawsuit, the woman arrested is the daughter of a Massachusetts judge.
Sceviour claimed he was disciplined at state police barracks days after the arrest and ordered to remove certain statements she made from the report, including any references to the judge.
"The trooper said to (a Major),'This is morally corrupt, it's completely wrong. This would not be happening if this was not the daughter of a judge,' and the Major said, 'You are right. I agree with you,'" Sceviour's attorney, Leonard Kesten, previously told WBZ-TV.
The report released Friday states that "Sceviour's report was consistent with his training and experience and reflected reasonable professional judgement."
The decision not to pursue criminal charges means that the top two commanders of the State Police are not at risk of losing their six-figure pensions.
