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Former Hanson Recreation employee faces charges

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Former Hanson Recreation Administrative Assistant Nicole Campbell was arraigned on four criminal charges in Plymouth District Court Tuesday, March 12. (Photo by Abram Neal)

PLYMOUTH — Nicole Campbell, 39, of Hanson, was arraigned after being summonsed to court Tuesday, March 12, 2019. The former Town of Hanson employee who worked as the administrative assistant to the Recreation Department from April 2013 until February 2017 was charged with one count each of larceny over $250, false report by a public employee, forgery of a document (public records) and uttering a false document.

A 17-page Hanson police report details allegations that Campbell stole $750 from a cash deposit for a Camp Kiwanee lodge rental in September 2016. She is also accused of falsifying turnover sheets to the Treasurer/Collector’s office as well as falsifying receipts in that case.

The police report details two other theft-related allegations against Campbell that prosecutors declined to pursue.

A 2016 town labor counsel report into Camp Kiwanee, where Campbell’s office was usually located, concluded that there was widespread mismanagement of the town-owned property. The report blamed both town employees and recreation board members, although not Campbell, for issues at the camp.

That investigation revealed at least $27,000 in lost revenue to the town in some 50 documented cases of undercharging or not charging for facility rentals. Campbell, town counsel’s report said, fully cooperated with the investigation, although it says she once used the lodge for free.

Campbell said to police, of her current situation, “I find this entire thing insane, because I turned these people in … [a]ll of a sudden, I’m the bad guy.”

Campbell could not be reached for comment as of press time.

JJ’s pub property is sold in Hanson

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Alfred Russo, Patricia Harrison and Wayne Cummings, accused of arson, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth Friday, Feb. 8.

PLYMOUTH — Patricia Harrison, her boyfriend Wayne Cummings and acquaintance Alfred Russo, all indicted in the alleged July 5, 2018 arson at the former JJ’s pub, 16 Liberty St., Hanson, appeared in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth on Friday, Feb. 8.

The pile of debris at 16 Liberty St. has drawn the ire of town officials and residents since the fire in July. Hazardous material, specifically asbestos, was found in the burnt remains of the building.

The town brought Harrison to court in December, to at minimum, put up a fence around the site before cleaning it up in the hopes of encouraging her to move along with the cleanup.

But Harrison sold the property, according to records on file with the Registry of Deeds, for $20,000 on Feb. 7.

Hanson Town Administrator Michael McCue said the new owners of the property, Richard and Diane Murphy, also own rental property nearby and are highly motivated to clean up the site.

He said it is now their responsibility to remove the hazardous materials and rubble, and he expects that to be done within two weeks of the time the sale was recorded.

Harrison and Cummings were before the court for a pre-trial hearing. Assistant District Attorney Alexander Zane represented the commonwealth.

Harrison, who had previously privately retained Jack Atwood, a Plymouth-based defense attorney, to represent her, asked the judge for a court-appointed attorney. The probation department determined that she was eligible, and she was assigned Sean O’Brien, a Randolph-based defense attorney.

Cummings will retain his private counsel, as will Russo. All three are being tried together for the alleged arson.

Harrison, Cummings and Russo will next be in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth on April 4, 2019 for a pretrial conference.

Murray family presses for answers

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VIGIL: Organizers Adrienne McDougall, left, and Diane Ostranber take part in a candlelight vigil for Maura Murray in Hanson Saturday, Feb. 9, the 15th anniversary of her disappearance after a New Hampshire car crash. (Photo by Abram Neal/Express News)

HANSON — Maura Murray, then 21, a native of Hanson, vanished after she crashed her 1996 Saturn into a snowbank along a curve on Wild Ammonoosuc Road (Route 112) in Woodsville, New Hampshire, a village of Haverhill, 15 years ago. The UMass Amherst nursing student’s mysterious disappearance on Feb. 9, 2004 has sparked worldwide attention in the press, on the Internet and on social media over the course of the last decade and a half.

Family, friends and supporters of Maura Murray marked the somber anniversary Saturday in New Hampshire and here in Hanson by lighting candles in hopes that she will be found. Her father, Fred Murray, 76, had shared with the public new details of an investigation he has conducted into her disappearance with the hope that the public attention will put pressure on New Hampshire authorities to further look into the matter. Investigators, meanwhile, say the investigation is still active.

Fred Murray, who spoke to the Express Monday, Feb. 11, says that he is certain he has found a burial site in a house “astonishingly close” to the site of the accident. According to him, locals first tipped him off about suspicious activity at the house in the first year after his daughter’s disappearance, including rumors of new concrete being poured in the basement shortly after the accident, he says.

The Boston Globe reported last week what Murray said, based on those tips, “that a man who lived in the home at the time of the crash, as well as the man’s extended family members who lived nearby, were responsible for his daughter’s death.”

Although he told the Express that he is not positive that it’s his daughter who is buried in the house, he strongly believes that there are human remains in the house and that they are likely those of his daughter.

“I only need to be right once,” he pointed out.

The house, which he says police never searched, a point which officials don’t advertise unless pressed in statements, has come under new ownership since Maura Murray’s disappearance, and the new owners have been receptive to Fred Murray’s investigation. He says he is willing to pay to dig up their basement, although he’d rather New Hampshire authorities do it.

The New Hampshire Attorney’s General office said in a statement that they “searched the area with dogs at the time,” but never searched inside the house in question.

In November and December 2018, Fred Murray brought in two trained, accredited cadaver detecting dogs to the house, each one on separate occasions. They alerted, he says, by lying down in the same spot in the basement of the house. He says that video of the dogs alerting exists, and is available widely online from local television media outlets.

Later, ground-penetrating radar was used and indicated strong findings of an abnormality in the same spot in the concrete, he said. Much of Fred Murray’s investigation has been paid for by donations and through pro-bono work of those who support him, he says.

“It’s astounding that this [basement] wasn’t looked at before. I told the police about this in the first year … the State Police did an inadequate job when my daughter first went missing,” he added, adamantly.

Fred Murray said he has found the local police to have been less-than-helpful, and as for federal law enforcement, “The FBI has been dodging it [the case] for 15 years … they’re useless,” he said of the Boston office of the FBI.

He says that law enforcement’s response to his investigation, when he’s notified them of his findings, has been, “We looked at that, we looked at that, we looked at that.”

“Because of the institutional intransigence of the New Hampshire State Police the case is still alive 15 years later,” he said.

Fred Murray said that he thinks he’s been getting “the run around,” and that officials have been waiting for him to go away. “This time, the guy didn’t go away, and that guy was me.”

A representative for the New Hampshire Department of Safety, of which the New Hampshire State Police are a division, refused to comment because of the active nature of the investigation, but did refer the Express to the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General.

“The case is still open and active.  We do receive tips and information periodically, as well as generate new information from investigative efforts,” said Jeffrey Streizin, Associate Attorney General and Director of the Division of Public Protection with the New Hampshire Attorney’s General office in an emailed statement.

He continued, “We are aware of the allegations regarding a home’s basement in that area and have considered and are considering next steps. That area was searched by law enforcement in the past, including with dogs, and nothing of significance was discovered.”

When asked to clarify whether the home itself was ever searched, Streizin said, “The State Police conducted a canvas of that area in 2004 and searched the area where that house is located with dogs. They did not go into the house at that time.”

“I need help. I’m asking for help,” Fred Murray said. “The people of northern New Hampshire have been wonderful. They are salt of the earth people … The goodness of people has really come to the forefront. Maura’s only friends in this have been the Massachusetts press, her friends and the great people of the area.”

Exactly where Maura Murray was headed, and why, has remained a mystery over the years. Moments after the crash, a good Samaritan stopped to assist her, but she waved him off and told him not to call the police, according to original police reports from 2004. The passerby called local police anyway, although he did drive off. A Haverhill police cruiser arrived within minutes, but the Saturn was locked, and Maura Murray was gone.

According to a four-part series reported by Maribeth Conway in this paper’s predecessor, the Hanson Express in 2007, Fred Murray had dinner with his daughter in Amherst two days before her disappearance.

She caused damage to her father’s car that night in a minor accident near UMass in Hadley, Massachusetts, and later friends reported she had been drinking that night, although no charges were filed in that incident.

The following day, she performed Internet searches for driving directions to Vermont and the Berkshires. She also called for a condominium rental reservation in Bartlett, New Hampshire, which she did not end up reserving. Her family often vacationed in Bartlett, a town in the White Mountains near the Attitash ski resort.

Her belongings were neatly packed up in boxes in her UMass dorm room before she left, according to reports, leading to speculation that she may have been considering leaving school permanently. But she had good grades, and her college textbooks were found in her car by investigators after the accident.

Maura Murray withdrew $280 from her bank account, leaving the account almost empty, and emailed professors and her boss at a local art gallery that she would be away from school because she was needed in Hanson due to a death in the family. Relatives later confirmed there was no death in the family.

No one is sure exactly why the college student made up the story.

A friend later suggested that Maura Murray may have been under a lot of pressure and wanted to get away to think about something important.

She grabbed some toiletries, a favorite stuffed animal — a monkey given to her by her father– and a necklace her boyfriend had given her. She then departed. Police say she next stopped at a liquor store, bought about $40 worth of alcohol — which police reports say some of which was found in plain sight in her car after the crash– and never returned to Massachusetts.

Fred Murray says his next step will be to try to enlist the help of senior New Hampshire State Police officials but that he continues to wait and marvel at the lack of help. He added, “We’re still going to win.”

When asked to clarify what a win for him would be, he hesitated and said, “There is no win. There is no satisfaction. I have to find her, bring her home and give her a proper burial. Every father who ever drew a breath on the planet should know what happens next.”

Sullivan pledges budget, opioid focus

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WHITMAN — State Rep. Alyson Sullivan, R-Abington, said that “time management” is the key to her success during a wide-ranging interview Monday, Feb. 4, with the Express. The busy final-year New England School of Law student, 30, who has been a working student for the better part of her adult life, is now also officially a full-time legislator.

Sullivan was sworn in Jan. 2 as the representative for the 7th Plymouth District which includes all of Whitman, Abington and several East Bridgewater precincts.

“I’m still new at this,” the lifelong Abington resident said, but has already sponsored several bills, co-sponsored dozens and has set clear priorities, such a tackling the opioid crisis, criminal justice reform and responsibly dealing with school budgets.

Sullivan has been appointed to several legislative committees for the 2019-2020 session by house leadership. She will be a member of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery as well as the House Committee on Personnel and Administration, according to her office.

In Whitman in particular, which is facing tough school budget cuts, she said she is meeting with local officials, including selectmen, to see what she can do to alleviate the crunch, although she admits she doesn’t have all the answers.

She said she has also reached out to lawmakers, both state representatives and state senators from both parties to work on local aid and school district issues.

She says that bipartisanship is important to her, in order to get things done on Beacon Hill, and that she will work closely with state Rep. Josh Cutler, D-Duxbury, who represents the 6th Plymouth District, which covers all of Hanson, Pembroke and most of Duxbury, and shares the Whitman-Hanson School District with her.

Sullivan has said that she wants to work to change the formula, known as Chapter 70, by which state aid is distributed, using the state’s budget surplus and rainy-day fund to pay for school funding.

“I ran on a platform of not raising taxes,” she said, but wasn’t sure where to make tough choices when it came to spending, yet. “I’m still only four weeks into my role; I’m still learning really how to be a state representative.”

“We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem,” she noted.

Sullivan also addressed the opioid issues affecting the state.

“One issue in particular, the opioid epidemic is affecting every corner of our commonwealth. It is impacting so many communities and I look forward to get to work on this critical issue right away,” Sullivan said through a statement.

She highlighted legislation she sponsored that would allow Plymouth County Outreach (PCO), the county-wide coalition of police and health care workers that provide support to those that suffer from substance use disorder, their family members and loved ones to be able to be trained immediately on and have access to Naloxone, known under the tradename Narcan, the life-saving opioid-blocking nasal spray, in the immediate aftermath of an opioid overdose.

Currently PCO only refers those in need of Nalaxone to a social services organization, she said, such as Brockton Area Multi-Services, Inc. (BAMSI) which trains people on and distributes the medication for free, or to local pharmacies, which depending on one’s insurance situation, charge for the medicine.

“This will [eliminate] a step,” she said.

Sullivan addressed questions both about supervised injection sites, which she is noticeably cautious and “on the fence about,” arguing that they don’t address the underlying issues of substance abuse disorder, as well as medically assisted substance abuse treatment in the corrections system, both of which she said she wants to look more into before taking a position.

Sullivan said she had already toured the Plymouth County Correctional Facility, as part of her interest in substance abuse and criminal justice reform and spoken with officials and inmates there, including those in detox units.

Regarding the issue of money and politics, her campaign committee raised significantly more money, almost half from the state GOP, than her Democratic opponent, Alex Bezanson, which she did not dispute.

“You have to raise money to get your message out there,” she said.

During the election Sullivan was working as a legal assistant in the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, she said.

“During the campaign I [personally] could not raise any funds … I was a state employee … other people raised money for me,” she pointed out.

The state Republican Committee donated $37,163.95, consisting mostly of funds from outside the district, out of $88,235.30 raised for her during the election campaign, according to state filings. That represents about 42 percent of the total funds raised.

There were also 15 $1,000 donations, the maximum donation amount allowed by law for an individual. Without the donation from the Republican Committee, Sullivan would have had $51,071.35 in the bank.

Bezanson received only $1,000 from the state Democratic Committee, and five $1,000 donations. He raised $54,464 in total. (He donated $1,000, as well, to his own campaign.)

“The support from outside the district doesn’t concern me,” she said. She added that her family is well-known— her father, Michael, is a former acting Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives director under President George W. Bush, a former Plymouth County district attorney, former federal prosecutor and in fact held his daughter’s 7th district seat in the early 1990s— and that people believe that she has the best interest of the commonwealth at heart.

Sullivan said her priority was to be an independent voice for the district and the state as a whole.

She said she is not a particular “type” of Republican, although she acknowledged that she was a minority as one in Massachusetts. She said she supports President Trump, calling him “my president” with a slight grin on her face, and that she respects anyone who runs for office, but doesn’t agree with him on everything. Nor does she agree with Gov.  Charlie Baker or the Republican Party on everything, for example, tax increases, she added.

“I’m trying to look out for everyone within the district,” Sullivan said. “I’m here focusing on Massachusetts, I’m here focusing on my district, so that’s where my focus remains.”

Braintree Fire Lt. faces charge of threatening

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Whitman Police have issued an arrest warrant for Kevin MacAleese, 53, of Braintree. He is wanted for threatening to commit a crime stemming from a domestic violence-related incident in Whitman late last year. An arrest has not yet been made as of Tuesday, Jan. 15.

A police report in Brockton District Court records said that on Dec. 13, 2018, Whitman police were dispatched to a Jenkins Avenue address at approximately 10:30 p.m. for a report of a male party, later identified as MacAleese, en route threatening to assault a woman and her husband.

The documents report that the alleged victim and MacAleese had known each other since childhood and were involved in a dating relationship beginning about 18-months ago, although both had later returned to their spouses.

The alleged victim met police outside her residence, while still on the phone with MacAleese. The police report said that the responding officer heard MacAleese make several threats over the phone, including to “beat-up” the woman’s husband.

The alleged victim then said to MacAleese that she was going to call police, which MacAleese allegedly did not realize had already occurred.

MacAleese replied “go ahead.” The phone call was interrupted, according to the report, but MacAleese called back, saying to “go ahead; call the police,” and “I’m not afraid (of the police); I don’t care if they shoot me. I have nothing to lose.”

According to the report, the officer inferred a possible “suicide-by-cop” situation from the nature of the comments, in which a suicidal individual acts threatening in an attempt to be shot by police.

When MacAleese arrived at the Jenkins Street address, he passed by, but his vehicle fit the description provided by the alleged victim, said the report.

MacAleese briefly attempted to drive away at a high rate of speed, wrote the officer, but he eventually stopped and cooperated with police after being pulled-over several blocks away.

Although he was traveling at approximately 50 mph in a residential neighborhood when stopped, and court documents report police detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his vehicle, there is no indication in the report whether police addressed either.

While this was occurring, the alleged victim was speaking to another Whitman police officer, whom she told that MacAleese was driving over to her house to “kill her” and “bury her.”

MacAleese was handcuffed, placed in a police cruiser and later sent to Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital for further evaluation because of the homicidal and suicidal statements he made, said the report.

The report indicates that MacAleese admitted to making unspecified threats, but that he “would never hurt her [the victim].”

MacAleese was later served with an emergency restraining order at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital ordering him to stay away from the alleged victim, her home, workplace and another Braintree location.

The alleged victim is not MacAleese’s spouse. Other news outlets have identified his spouse as Karen MacAleese, who is listed as a Braintree Interim Deputy Police Chief, according to the Braintree Police website.

The Cape and Islands district attorney’s office will investigate the case once MacAleese is apprehended or turns himself in. The Express made several unsuccessful attempts to contact a spokesperson for that office.

Murders up, overdoses down

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Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz announced 2018 homicide and overdose statistics for Plymouth County on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019.

According to a press release, State Police Detectives assigned to the Plymouth County DA’s Office investigated 10 homicides last year.

In 2017, State Police responded to nine homicides. Both years do not include motor vehicle homicides.

“I commend State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office who work together with local police and federal authorities to solve these murders, investigate violent crimes and take guns and drugs off of our streets,” DA Cruz said. “We remain focused on eradicating gun violence and the deadly heroin and fentanyl drug markets to improve the quality of life for residents throughout Plymouth County,” Cruz said in the release.

State Police additionally responded to 112 fatal suspected overdoses in the county in 2018, with 81 of the victims being male, and 31 being female. In 2017, State Police responded to a total of 138 suspected overdoses in the county.

“The number of fatal overdoses that State Police responded to are down from last year and we are making strides, but we have work ahead of us,” DA Cruz said. “… I look forward to continuing to collaborate until we get well out in front of this addiction issue.”

Finally, last year, State Police Detectives assigned to the DA’s office were able to use “cellphone technology” to secure a manslaughter conviction against a Wareham man, Steven D. Foss, 37, who supplied the drugs in the fatal overdose of a 25-year-old Wareham woman, a first in the county, according to the office.

Whitman man to serve 5-7 years

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BROCKTON – Daniel Nash, 33, of Whitman, who was found guilty of raping a woman at a Jan. 25, 2014 house party, was sentenced to serve five to seven years in state prison on Thursday, Dec. 13 in Brockton Superior Court, announced Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz Thursday.

Nash was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and one count of photographing an unsuspecting person in the nude.

Judge Robert Gordon presided over the five-day jury trial ending in a guilty verdict Dec. 3 and sentenced Nash Thursday. Nash asked for a two-year custodial sentence through his Brockton-based attorney Joseph Krowski, Jr., while Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague asked for eight to 12 years in custody.

Gordon sentenced Nash to serve five to seven years in state prison at MCI-Cedar Junction (a maximum-security prison in Walpole), to be followed by two and one half years in the house of correction, suspended for two years. After that, Nash will be on probation for three years under the conditions that he stays away from, and not have contact with, the victim; that he wears a GPS monitoring bracelet; that he registers with the state Sex Offender Registry Board and that he undergoes sex offender treatment.

A representative for the district attorney’s office stated that the commonwealth was satisfied with the sentence.

Nash, a former State Street Bank account manager, held a birthday party at his Whitman home in 2014. The victim, his then-fiancée’s sister, arrived at the party and stayed overnight. The following morning, the victim woke up and called Whitman Police to report that she had been sexually assaulted by a person at the party, believed to be Nash, and the victim also believed there was a video of the incident, according to the release and court records.

Whitman Police investigated and interviewed Nash, who eventually admitted to the assault. Nash consented to a search of his cellphone by Whitman Police where a video of the incident, which he had attempted to delete, was located, court records also state.

The ADA, Sprague, first read the victim’s impact statement into the record, saying to the judge that the victim was too emotional to address the court even though she was present.

The victim asked, several times, for the maximum sentence, “not a slap on the wrist,” through the ADA.

Sprague herself asked for a sentence greater than those suggested by the Superior Court sentencing guidelines, noting several aggravating factors in the crime, including that the defendant was especially vulnerable because she was intoxicated at the party.

“The defendant did not express remorse for his actions … He, in fact, tried to blame the event on the victim’s flirtatious behavior with him earlier in the evening and his own intoxication, which was greatly exaggerated. The defendant then denied these allegations to the victim’s family, causing a termination/alienation of the family relationships and bonds the victim had with her mother, stepfather, and sister,” stated Sprague in a sentencing memorandum.

The defense relied heavily on Nash’s lack of a criminal record in arguing for a lenient, but custodial, two-year sentence. His attorney, Krowski, noted that he had never been in a fist fight, never had a detention in school and didn’t even have a speeding ticket. He said the incident was “an aberration in Mr. Nash’s otherwise impeccable record.”

“One moment in time … cannot define a man,” he stated in a sentencing memorandum.

He also argued that Nash was engaged to the victim’s sister at the time of the crime, and they got married despite the pending charges. The victim’s parents also attended the trial in support of Nash, he said.

“They recognize that the crimes were truly an aberration, completely inconsistent with his character as a caring husband and loving son-in-law,” he stated in his sentencing memorandum.

He also said that about 50 letters had been written in support of Nash.

The arguments did not particularly persuade the judge, who in a somewhat rare move, according to court personnel, handed down a written, six-page sentencing ruling which he read to the court, after deliberating for about 15 minutes following the victim impact statement and hearing from the two opposing parties.

“In arriving at its sentencing decision, the Court has placed greatest emphasis upon the truly egregious nature of the offenses themselves,” Gordon stated, describing in detail the crimes Nash committed, and that “[a] more appalling mistreatment of a member of one’s own soon-to-be family is difficult to conceive…”

The judge noted that “[a]s for the victim’s character, the Court finds that the evidence at trial intensifies rather than mitigates its judgement of the Defendant in this case … this woman was especially vulnerable to Mr. Nash’s brand of predation. Far from lessening the blameworthiness of his actions, these facts mark the Defendant as a bullying exploiter of the powerless, convinced that a victim in a distressed condition was somehow not entitled to even the most basic protections of the law.”

Following that, he added, “It is, perhaps, true that no person should ever be judged to harshly for their single worst moment in life, and I am reminded of this trope as the Court contemplates a proper sentence for Mr. Nash. That said, there are boundaries of human decency which, once crossed, require due reckoning in a society that strives for justice. This is, sadly, such a case.”

Finally, he noted that the law authorized him to sentence Nash to up to 20 years’ imprisonment on each offense of rape, but that the sentence was in line with the Superior Court sentencing guidelines for someone with no criminal record.

Asbestos found at JJ’s Pub property

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HANSON — Hazardous material, specifically asbestos, has been found in the burnt remains of the former JJ’s pub, 16 Liberty St., Hanson. Town Administrator Michael McCue announced the findings to Selectmen at a brief Tuesday, Dec. 18, meeting. McCue has been in contact with Hanson town counsel Katherine Feodoroff and Building Commissioner Robert Curran, about to the ongoing situation.

McCue said that there was no public health hazard as the asbestos was not in the air, but that it would need to be cleaned up properly, causing costs to skyrocket from an original estimate of $14,000.

Feodoroff places a complete site cleanup at roughly $40,000 in an email to the board, which could rise due to procurement regulations, and because the debris will need to be hauled off-site for decontamination processing.

Town officials are bracing themselves to take on the full cost of a proper cleanup, as the Dec. 31 deadline for JJ’s owner Patricia Harrison, of Bourne, to erect a fence on the nuisance property approaches.

“I just want to clean the damn thing up,” said Selectman Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.

Feodoroff states that it is not necessary for her to go to court, as Selectmen had previously requested, to further expand a court order obtained against Harrison as it is already quite expansive, quoting the order in her email:

“[S]hould the Defendant fail to satisfy [the court ordered requirements] on, or before, but in no event later than Dec. 31, 2018 then Plaintiff, Town of Hanson, may enter onto the subject Property, without the need for further action by this Honorable Court, and take any and all actions(s) reasonable and necessary to erect said fence and screening and abate the nuisance … [A]ll necessary expenses incurred by the Town shall be paid by the Defendant, and shall constitute a lien against the property … until it is paid in full,” ordered Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly earlier this December.

Feodoroff wants to record the order with the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds so that the order is binding on any subsequent owner of the property, she states.

Whether or not there is actually a buyer for the property is not readily apparent, according to McCue, although Harrison has asserted that she does to the town and to the Express, previously.

McCue said this has not been independently verified.

Selectman James Hickey pressed this point, visibly frustrated, asking, “Can we assume there’s no potential buyer?”

McCue noted that regardless of who pays for the cleanup, a lien on the property will mean that the town should eventually get its money back, whatever the cost.

Selectman Chairman Kenneth Mitchell said that the town must do its due diligence if it’s going to be spending so much money on the cleanup.

Roofer faces more charges in area

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WAREHAM — Matthew Will, 37, of Halifax, owner of Five Star Discount Roofing, was in Wareham District Court Friday, Dec. 7, facing six larceny-related charges stemming from two Middleborough Police Department complaints alleging he took deposits by check for roofing and household contract work from six residents of the Oak Point 55-plus community in Middleborough, cashed the checks but did not start or complete the work as promised.

Will faces similar charges in Plymouth District Court, stemming from Kingston and Hanson allegations.

These charges are in addition to a long list of others, including a separate case also stemming from alleged crimes at the Oak Point community, in which Will is facing 15 counts of larceny over $250 by false pretense. A pre-trial conference was conducted on that case after the arraignments on the latest charges.

Judge Douglas J. Darnbrough presided over the proceedings, to which Will had been summonsed. His Plymouth-based attorney, Jack Atwood, pled not guilty on his behalf. At one point, Will attempted to address the judge, but Atwood stopped him from speaking, bellowing “Be quiet!”

Police and court reports paint a picture of a once reputable roofer unable or unwilling to keep up with the amount of work he had committed to, and the Middleborough Building Inspector, Robert Whalen, alerting police to complaints about Will while continuing to issue building permits despite warnings from Oak Point residents.

Whalen, in a phone interview Dec. 10, stated that disputes between contractors and homeowners are outside of his jurisdiction, but that in an effort to protect the community, he contacted Detective Simonne Ryder, of the Middleborough Police, regarding Will when Whalen had received about ten complaints.

As of press time, Will is facing a total of one count of larceny over $1,200 by false pretense, two counts of larceny over $1,200, 19 counts of larceny over $250 by false pretense, one count of larceny under $250 by false pretense and one count of forgery of a document.

There are 23 area households in three communities claiming they have been victimized to date, who have lost a combined $153,197.34 in monies given for work not done, with individual losses ranging from $695 to $15,569. Most of these victims are over age 55, and many are quite elderly, according to police reports. The alleged victim who lost the most money is 78 years old.

Grievances against Will date back to at least 2017, according to public records. But by late May, 2018, enough residents from Oak Point had lodged complaints to catch the attention of the building inspector, Whalen, at which time authorities noticed Will’s insurance and building licenses had expired, according to police reports.

The detective opened a weeks-long investigation into Will on May 22, but police took no action on the inquiry until early August, by which time the number of alleged victims had grown and multiple police departments were investigating Will.

The report also stated that the building inspector was dealing with the issue, personally inspecting jobs and warning residents not to give 100 percent deposits as some residents had been doing.

Some residents were attempting to sue Will in small claims court for their losses, while the investigation was in-process.

The building department was giving Will five licenses at a time because he said that he had 30 open jobs in Oak Point, records say. The report states that he was only able to complete a handful of those jobs over the course of a few weeks and had effectively disappeared by Aug. 1, 2018.

Between June 21, and the day before Ryder’s first complaint was written on Aug. 2, there is no record of any follow-up by the detective on the matter in court files. The alleged victim in Kingston hired Will on July 15, and the alleged victim in Hanson hired him on July 31.

Whalen said that he reported Will to the Southeastern Massachusetts Building Association, which should have notified other local building inspectors about Will, according to Whalen.

He will next be in Plymouth District Court on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 9 a.m. for two pre-trial hearings. The three Wareham District Court cases have been continued to March 4, 2019, at 9 a.m. as well for pre-trial hearings.

Will cannot be reached by phone or email and the investigation in Middleborough is ongoing, police said.

Sullivan bests Bezanson

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ABINGTON – The exuberance at the home of Alyson Sullivan’s parents could hardly be contained. Shortly after 9 p.m., she and about 75 supporters received news that she had bested her opponent, former Abington selectman Alex Bezanson, in the race for the 7th Plymouth District State Representative 10,225 to 8,079. The 30-year-old will follow in the footsteps of her father, Michael, who held the same seat during the early 1990s.

“Thank you to everyone that helped with my campaign over the last two years,” Bezanson posted on Facebook, congratulating Sullivan. “Unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

Sullivan, a young, enthusiastic paralegal and final-year law student talked quickly as she moved from guest to guest, freely giving out hugs for their support.

When asked how she would succeed as a Republican among so many Democrats on Beacon Hill, she said that she is an independent voice and does not see that as an impediment. “I’ll work with others,” she added.

She says her top priorities are Chapter 70 money for schools, Chapter 90 money for infrastructure and fighting the opioid crisis.

“I’ve had cousins who’ve lost their lives to opioids,” she said. She says she’ll partner with local law enforcement to go after drug dealers. “I want less and less people to get addicted in the first place,” she added.

Her plans are admittedly ambitious, but she says she can handle working as a legislator by day and going to law school at night.

Her campaign manager, Alex Hagerty, himself a rising star in local republican politics, sitting on the Abington Board of Health, described some of the campaign work that had “made it all happen.”

He described a grassroots effort to maintain the 7th District for Republicans that saw Geoff Diehl not seek re-election to the State House and lose his race for Massachusetts senator against incument Elizabeth Warren.

“She’ll have to fill the shoes of Diehl,” said Hagerty, who said the campaign wished Diehl the best of luck in his next endeavors and that they were disappointed in his loss

But, “Abington, Whitman and East Bridgewater could not have elected a better state representative,” he said.