Cohasset Chief Mark DeLuca in Limbo
29 May 2012
Based on what we heard at the Selectmen’s meeting tonight (held at Our World Children’s Museum) Acting Town Manager Mike Milanoski should also be suspended with pay.
Last Friday Milanoski suspended Police Chief Mark DeLuca with pay pending an investigation of various union complaints that he said he could not talk about last week (in a press release to all other newspapers except this one) because of the pending investigation.
However, at tonight’s meeting Milanoski threw DeLuca under the bus, saying DeLuca was being investigated for forgery, misconduct, using his position to secure personal benefits (is that the old rumor that he stole the Toys for Tots presents?) and physical abuse.
To: Michael Milanoski, Town Manager
From: Mark M. DeLuca, Chief of Police
Re: Interference with Open Internal Investigation
Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
It has been brought to my attention, by Deputy Chief Quigley, that you recently had a conversation with Patrick Reardon, the Cohasset Police Union president about an incident involving possible misconduct by Cohasset Police Sergeant Jeff Treanor.
During that conversation you informed Officer Reardon to convey a message to Sgt. Treanor that if Sgt. Treanor forfeited his overtime pay for that day you would dismiss the misconduct allegations.
As troubling as this breach of the chain of command is, it is even more troubling that you instructed the union president specifically not to inform me of your conversation with him. Aside from instructing Officer Reardon to deceive me, you were aware that an internal investigation was underway, as you were the complaintant. You spoke to
witnesses compromising a sensitive investigation. Your attempt to influence witnesses in a open potentially criminal investigation could itself result in a potential criminal investigation.
Your motivation to attempt to manipulate this incident is unknown to me but what is known is that your actions were reckless and you unnecessarily exposed our Town to potential civil and criminal liability. This, combined with the message you have delivered that money will exonerate misconduct, creates a breeding ground for corruption.
The policy I have set in place regarding the police department is that all communications to other departments or agencies must go through the Chief’s office.
The purpose is to ensure accountability, continuity of mission, and clarity of message while representing the Cohasset Police Department in the most professional manner possible.
Above events place me in a position that I must demand to meet with the Board of Selectmen and yourself. The issues presented above are potentially ethical, civil, and criminal. It is paramount that we meet immediately.
_________________
Here’s the second letter from DeLuca to the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
To: The Honorable Board of Selectmen
From: Mark M. DeLuca, Chief of Police
Re: Notice
Date: May 25, 2012
Honorable Board of Selectmen, I respectfully inform you that I had a meeting scheduled at 8:00am this morning, May 25, 2012 with Selectman and Public Safety Liaison, Fred Koed. The purpose of this meeting was to give Mr. Koed the attached letter and inform him of actions that town manager Milanoski took, which I believe could possibly lead to
ethical, civil, or criminal sanctions. This 8:00am scheduled meeting was cancelled by Mr. Koed, thus I could not deliver the attached letter.
At 7:51am this same date I went to town hall to deliver the same attached letter to Mr. Milanoski, to find town hall locked. I phoned Mr. Milanoski to ask him to let me in so I could meet with him, at which point he instructed me to come back at 10:30am. He informed me that he was in town hall in the middle of a meeting.
At 10:30am, I went to Mr. Milanoski’s office to find Lt. Lennon and Deputy Chief Quigley seated in his office. Mr. Milanoski immediately informed me that as of this moment I was on paid administrative leave, to turn in my town issued equipment and vacate. Due to the above I did not serve or discuss the attached letter.
I anxiously await the opportunity to meet with your Honorable Board to resolve this matter. Additionally, I am requesting that my town owned computer be preserved as I left it this morning and that I be provided with documentation as to the foundation for the basis of this leave, since none was given to me this morning.
Thank you and I look forward to our meeting.
Mark M. DeLuca
DeLuca found himself being suspended by none other than the Boy Town Manager, Mike Milanoski. Looks like Milanoski put in some overtime regurgitating some very old complaints..most of if not all were put to bed awhile back. I am totally confident that whatever Milanoski did was done with the complete permission of Diane Kennedy, Fred Koed, Paul Carlson and Lee Jenkins, who have been working for some time to get rid of DeLuca.
Thank the Lord for Karen Quigley, former selectman, who asked Selectman Chair Paul Carlson if he had any correspondence on the matter to share with the public, at which point he read the first letter from DeLuca into the public record but shied away from revealing the second DeLuca letter, saying the matter was under investigation by none other than…THE ACTING TOWN MANAGER, who is obviously part and parcel of the investigation. There’s no doubt in this blogger’s mind that Milanoski’s interference in police matters led to DeLuca’s suspension.
During the public comment period, numerous individuals questioned the union complaints. Melissa Browne, a member the community liaison board, wondered if the grievances were really old ones. “What’s their shelf life,” she wondered. No answer. Bob Hayden, a retired police chief from Lawrence cautioned the selectmen to not allow the Acting Town Manager to part of the investigation because of his apparent involvement. Jack Creighton, also a member of the community liaison board urged Selectmen to consider an independent investigation. Merle Brown and Mark Alves, community liaison board members, agreed with Creighton.
At the conclusion of the meeting this blogger asked Selectmen to suspend the Acting Town Manager with pay until the matter could be settled by an outside of town group of people, comprised of two town managers, a police chief, etc. Chair Carlson said it was the Town Manager’s Act which put the Town Manager in charge of the same.
Selectmen need to do the right thing, and the right thing to do is to create an outside (the town) investigatory committee to examine the what happened between the Police Chief and the Boy Town Manager.
Jun 05, 2012 @ 17:16:24
Tanna:
I wish I could take credit for lightofminots comments. They are not mine. If I do feel like commenting I will use my real name.
Jack
Jun 03, 2012 @ 18:29:06
Dear Mr. Keniley;
We’re recommending that what happened between the Acting Town Manager and the Police Chief be investigated by an outside party. It’s the way it’s done in most towns.
How many aliases do you have, now? Why don’t you just sign your own name? Everybody knows it’s you.
P.S. It’s Town Counsel, not Town Council.
Jun 02, 2012 @ 21:21:38
Observer:
You are building a case based on a letter written by the Chief of Police and sent to the Selectmen after the police union made allegations about his behavior and after the Town Manager/Town Council decided to suspend him.
I am sure the Chief/Coughlin/Quigley will try to make a case out of the Trainor issue, what else do they have? I suggest the readers of this blog wait to hear from the unions about their case before coming to any conclusions about the Trainor/overtime/hummer issue.
The last time I checked it was not against the law for the Town Manger to discuss personnel issues with the rank and file.
For those readers who don’t know about the Trainor issue: Trainor drove one of Mike Coughlins Hummers to Town Hall on election day and parked it out front of the voting station. He hung a sign on it that asked the voters to not to allow the station to go dark.
He then filed for overtime pay for the hours worked.
SO after the Town Manager finds out Trainor filed for overtime, he takes the time to find out what happened. That alone is more than past Town Manager would do.
Good luck with your case though.
Jun 02, 2012 @ 14:49:35
Hi Honey,
We missed you.
Jun 02, 2012 @ 14:17:15
so much for the no-anonymous posts policy. Tanna must be desperate for traffic. This site was starting to
suckagain.Jun 01, 2012 @ 15:30:22
It is amazing that a Town Manager would subvert his Police Chief’s authority by making deals behind his back with the Cohasset Police Union President. This sends a message to the employees of the Police Department that everytime they disagree with the Police Chief, they can run around him and go directly to the Town Manager. Clearly, the Acting Town Manager is not acting like a “manager.”
What is even worse is that, if the Town Manager informed Officer Reardon to convey a message to Sgt. Treanor that if Sgt. Treanor forfeited his overtime pay for that day, the Town Manager would dismiss the misconduct allegations, then the Town Manager has committed an attempted extortion. M.G.L. ch. 265, sec. 25, states in part: “Whoever, verbally or by written or printed communication, maliciously threatens to accuse another of a crime or offence, . . with the intent thereby to extort money or any pecuniary advantage, or with intent to compel any person to do any act against his will, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than fifteen years, or in the house of correction for not more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars, or both.”
“The elements of the crime are (1) a malicious threat (2) made to a named person (3) to accuse someone of a crime or to injure someone’s person or property (4) with intent to extort money.” Commonwealth v. Miller, 385 Mass. 521, 526 (1982)(citations omitted). “If the threat was willfully made, with the intent to extort money, it was a malicious act, and the fact that the charge was true would be immaterial.” Commonwealth v. Buckley, 148 Mass. 27, 28 (1888).
It appears that this matter should be referred to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office or the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office for an independent investigation.
Jun 01, 2012 @ 14:02:08
Tom Callahan/Tanna K/Karen Quigley/Mike Coughlin:
How do you get from the filing of a grievance by the police union (and the suspension of the Chief) to accusing the Town Manager of manipulating the events behind the scene?
Do you really think Milanowski planned this?
Do you think he is working in conjunction with the Union and the Deputy Chief to get rid of the Chief?
You are a lawyer – Do you think he broke the law?
Let’s keep the union action against DeLuca separate from the decision of Town Meeting not to hire more police staff.
May 31, 2012 @ 20:03:51
The biggest problem with cohasset is the vitriol and lack of respect spewed by those who think they know it all and I have to tell ya — Tanna Kasperowicz you take the cake for some of the worst crap I have ever read.
You pompous know it all – better than the rest – sarcastic – rants that you think is creative whimsical journalism is a joke. I have lived in this town for close to 5 years and until last week I had never even heard of your paper and blog. (I have to remind myself not to thank Tom Callahan for directing me here)
Your crappy agenda driven rants are pathetic and represents the things that are wrong with the great community — namely too many people do not respect each other and too many people think their opinions are divine words of God. You may think you are our community’s version of George Will or Joan Vennochi but you are nothing more than Morton Downey Jr.
I came to this site to learn about an issue — what I learned is why no one has ever once mentioned your publications to me. It’s not worth their time. Too bad, you might have some good information — too bad it’s wrapped in crap.
By the way, my name is John McSheffrey — I have no allegiance to the the Police Dept or anyone working for the town — I was simply trying to learn about a story. Instead I learned where not to get my information.
May 31, 2012 @ 13:42:30
What is astounding about this is either the utter stupidity or arrogance or vindictiveness or whatever of all this.
If the Chief’s contract is up for renewal in September and you don’t want to renew, then just don’t. In three months, it’s done (and apparently it is no secret to anyone that is the intended and expected outcome). No controversy, no mess, no potential lawsuit. But no, here we have what is on the surface a dubious suspension, revealed to the world on a Friday of a three-day weekend (a classic trick learned from the boys downtown). And, BTW, apparently not revealed to all the press in town or to one Selectman. Then compound that by opening one’s mouth at a public meeting telling everyone what the charges are rather than keeping to the press release’s statement of “this is a personnel matter, no comment”. Is that stupidity in handling this, or a vindictive desire to put something adverse out there to impede his ability to get another job?
FYI, I don’t know Chief DeLuca. I have met him a few times casually since he’s been in Cohasset. I’ve heard all the rumors. From friends in Duxbury, I am confident that any rumors from that community were just that, and that there is nothing to besmirch his record or character from there; indeed perhaps the absolute contrary is the conclusion one could reach. I do know there are axes to be ground in Cohasset about his selection and later events, and ambitions as who would be a successor. There’s two sides to everything, folks, and perhaps there are other things yet unknown that give reason for these actions against him. But right now, the way that this has been handled puts the Town Hall side of this in a very bad and questionable light.
I cannot believe that any of this was done with consultation of town counsel. Another problem in current leadership and management. But then, rumor is he’s next in the purge.
Be careful what you all wish for.