TROOPERGATE SWINGS
Official: DA’s office played role
Someone in the Worcester DA’s office communicated with former state police Col. Richard McKeon “early on” about the arrest of a judge’s daughter by state troopers, a government official told the Herald.
“There was communication between both the Worcester District Attorney’s Office and McKeon on the Alli Bibaud case,” the official said yesterday.
The official did not provide further details, including who in District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s office spoke with McKeon or what specifically prompted McKeon’s order to alter the report, only to say it was “early on” after Bibaud’s Oct. 16 arrest.
The scandalous redaction order has sparked two federal lawsuits, pushed McKeon and his top deputy into abrupt retirements in the face of mounting criticism, and prompted an ongoing review by Attorney General Maura Healey. The state police union has demanded an internal affairs investigation.
Early told the Herald last night he’s not commenting. His spokesman earlier cited the lawsuits and Healey’s review as reasons the DA is withholding comment.
Early aides denied last week that anyone in the office had asked McKeon to alter the report. State police yesterday also declined comment on any contacts with Early’s office.
Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday swore in state police Maj. Kerry Gilpin as the new colonel of the 2,200-member department in a closed-door ceremony. Officials said Gilpin was not speaking to reporters, less than a day after McKeon and his top deputy, Francis Hughes, hastily retired.
Baker stressed to reporters — twice — that McKeon said he “initiated” the order to trooper Ryan Sceviour to erase several embarrassing details from the arrest report of Alli Bibaud, the daughter of Dudley District Court Judge Timothy Bibaud.
Sceviour and his sergeant were both reprimanded for filing the report. Baker said yesterday the disciplinary action taken against both should be stricken from their records.
Bibaud, 30, during her drug and OUI arrest, had told police her father was a judge, that she had performed sex acts to obtain heroin, and suggested “she would offer sexual favors in return for leniency.”
Trooper Ali Rei, who wrote about Bibaud’s admission of performing oral sex for drugs, had her notes shredded, a federal lawsuit alleges.
Bibaud’s grandmother told the Herald yesterday, “Everybody thinks we’re bad, but we are hurting the most.”
McKeon, who was originally due to step down Friday, left abruptly along with Hughes Tuesday, with an “honorable discharge,” according to spokesman David Procopio. It’s a designation reserved for those who leave the force in “good standing” and is left to the discretion of the colonel himself, Procopio said.
The State Police Association of Massachusetts, which represents troopers, said the sudden retirements were made after the union filed an official complaint with internal affairs seeking an investigation into “alleged improper and illegal conduct” by McKeon, Hughes and others. The association claims the retiring bosses bolted ahead of any probe.
Hughes, a 31-year veteran, could retire with a $175,416 pension under state law, which allows longtime state troopers to leave with 75 percent of their last year’s salary. He was making $233,889 a year.
McKeon could earn as much as $188,000 a year in retirement benefits, but will receive less after opting for a “joint survivor allowance,” a designation that allows his spouse to get a portion of the pension if he dies, according to documents filed with the State Retirement Board. The designation reduces the annual payouts retirees receive by about 10 percent to 15 percent, on average, according to board officials.
Attorney Leonard Kesten, who represents the two troopers suing McKeon and others, said yesterday he’s not backing off and will “subpoena every kind of electronic and paper communication” he can.