METHUEN, MASS. (WHDH) - Former Methuen Chief of Police Joseph Solomon and former city council chair and police officer Sean Fountain have been indicted on several charges including fraud, officials said Thursday.
The Essex County District Attorney’s office and the state Attorney General’s office announced grand jury indictments Thursday afternoon.
The DA’s office in a statement said the charges are “related to fraud and corruption.” The indictments, in turn, come after a monthslong investigation that started in January after a review of “various reports from the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission and Office of the Inspector General’s Office outlining past serious misconduct by Methuen Police Department officials,” the DA’s office said.
The AG’s office said charges against Solomon “arise from Solomon’s deployment of part-time intermittent officers into full-time positions in circumvention of the civil service laws and his subsequent efforts to deceive others into believing that part-time intermittent officer Sean Fountain had graduated from a police academy when he had not.”
Fountain, meanwhile, is accused of misrepresenting his training credentials and creating a forged training certificate, the AG’s office said.
“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 office said.
The AG’s office said Fountain was one such hire and said Fountain made false statements about his qualifications to be a police officer.
Solomon is facing the following charges, according to the AG’s office:
- Perjury by Written Affidavit (2 counts)
- Obtaining Unwarranted Privileges in Violation of the Civil Service Laws (7 counts)
- Civil Service Law Violations (6 counts)
- Uttering a Forged Document (1 count)
- Procurement Fraud (1 count)
Fountain is facing the following charges:
- Forgery (1 count)
- Uttering a Forged Document (1 count)
- Perjury (1 count)
- Procurement Fraud (1 count)
Fountain is also facing one count of violating conflict of interest law. He and Solomon are expected to be arraigned in Essex County Superior Court at a later date.
Methuen Mayor Neil Perry responded to the indictments of Solomon and Fountain in a statement late Thursday afternoon, saying the day was “truly a watershed day in the history of the City of Methuen.”
“Methuen continues to expend every reasonable effort to steer the city away from the abuses and wrongdoing of the past, and, likewise, the City looks forward to seeking justice against those who have harmed the City,” Perry said, in part.
Perry continued, thanking officials within Methuen who he said “worked diligently together to help get us to this point.”
Perry also thanked Methuen residents who he said “personally reached out to the District Attorney to demand justice when news broke about the investigation.”
“To those citizens, please know that your representatives heard you, and you deserve to have a local government that is above reproach,” Perry said.
Perry placed Solomon on administrative leave in December of 2020. Solomon then announced his intentions to retire in January of 2021.
Scott McNamara was sworn in as Methuen’s newest police chief in October, 2021.
In his own statement Thursday, McNamara said “One of my most pressing priorities since my first day as Police Chief has been our work to regain the trust of our community.”
“No one, including police chiefs, are above the law in this community and Commonwealth,” McNamara said.
McNamara thanked Attorney General Andrea Campbell, District Attorney Paul Tucker and their staff “for their diligent, professional work throughout this investigation.”
“I pledge that every man and woman in our Department will continue to work every day to earn the support of those we serve, and to move beyond the abuses of the past,” McNamara continued.
Speaking with 7NEWS, current Methuen City Council Vice Chairman Joel Faretra said many have been waiting years for the indictments that officials announced this week.
“There’s been numerous times where we thought this was going to happen and we’ve been let down, so it’s great to see the Attorney General finally come through,” Faretra said.
“We’re just hoping now that it will finish at some point with not just indictments, but that somebody will be convicted,” Faretra continued.
7NEWS reached out to Solomon and Fountain for comment but did not hear back Thursday night.
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