FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. is denying any wrongdoing after an independent investigation found he asked former Massachusetts State Police Col. Richard McKeon to scrub embarrassing details from a report detailing the arrest of a judge’s daughter.
“I didn’t ask the colonel to make changes to the report,” Early said Monday when asked about the report by 7’s Sharman Sacchetti.
On Friday, state police released the findings of an independent review of the so-called Troopergate scandal, which claimed Early asked McKeon to remove embarrassing comments Alli Bibaud made about sex and drugs during her arrest last fall.
Troopers Ryan Sceviour and Ali Rei are suing the state police because they claim they were reprimanded after being forced to remove Bibaud’s comments from the arrest report.
The scandal prompted the retirements of McKeon and other top brass at the state police.
“I spoke with the colonel about the arrest and I told him what we would be doing under our guidelines,” Early said.
Early claims he never told McKeon to do anything improper.
“This case is unique,” Early said. “In other cases, we move to impound and to redact documents.”
The judge’s daughter was treated just like anyone else would be, according to Early.
“No one was treated differently,” Early said.
Early is up for reelection this year and says he’s not going anywhere.
“I’m running for a campaign. I look forward to a fact-based, positive campaign,” Early said when asked about possibly resigning.
Massachusetts officials who played a role in scrubbing the police report will not be disciplined.
Attorney General Maura Healey said the revisions to the arrest report raise concerns about possible civil ethics violations, but her office found criminal charges aren’t warranted because the officials were not trying to impede or interfere with the prosecution of the judge’s daughter.
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