The former police chief for Methuen, described as akin to a mafia “Don,” was indicted by a statewide grand jury on 17 fraud-related expenses.
A 203-page report, launched March 27vand commissioned by Methuen, alleged that former Chief Joseph Solomon, which it described as working the division like a “‘Don’ of an organized crime family,” conspired to get Sean Fountain, an unqualified metropolis council president, a police detective job that defrauded town out of $400,000.
“On 1 July 2016, Fountain was appointed an Intermittent Police Officer by the City of Methuen’s Police Chief Joseph Solomon. Fountain was the beneficiary of a level of preferential treatment that was so blatant that it was criminal,” the report states. “He was treated differently from the four intermittent officers hired when he was.”
The workplaces of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Essex District Attorney Paul Tucker partnered to additional examine reviews of “past serious misconduct by” officers on the Methuen PD, leading to a months-long investigation, in response to the Essex DA’s workplace.
A statewide grand jury on Thursday indicted Solomon on the next expenses: seven counts of acquiring unwarranted privileges in violation of the civil service legal guidelines, six counts of civil service regulation violations, two counts of perjury by written affidavit, one depend of uttering a solid doc and one depend of procurement fraud.
Fountain was himself indicted on single counts of forgery, uttering a solid doc, perjury, procurement fraud and a battle of curiosity violation. Both males can be arraigned on the fees in Essex Superior Court in Salem at a future date, in response to the AG’s workplace.
“The investigation demonstrated that Solomon had repeatedly misused his position of authority as police chief to repeatedly undermine the law for his own benefit, including by hiring six part-time intermittent officers to the Methuen Police Department and then appointing them to full-time roles,” the AG’s workplace mentioned in a press release relating to the indictments. “Fountain was one of these hires, and he made false statements about his qualifications to be a police officer.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”