This is FU

To learn the background info leading up to this BRADY List inclusion (added to list early in 2022) scroll down to see our initial reporting on Quilty, the sex assaulting sergeant.

BRADY LIST AS OF 1/26/2022 – CLICK TO ENLARGE

COMMONWEALTH vs QUILTY 2181CR00580 INDICTMENT

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THE FOLLOWING IS EARLIER REPORTING ON THIS MATTER.

DECEMBER 14 2021 UPDATE: Grand jury proceedings for Jamie Quilty started December 13th. Indictment likely incoming. Multiple officers and dispatchers from Natick subpoenaed.

NOVEMBER 15 2021 UPDATE: Because the town had been caught in a lie wit a WBUR investigative journalist by the state public records appeals team, we were able to reopen our in-cam review of the external law firm review by Crevier & Ryan LLP on Quilty’s actions. This external firm was key to keeping records out of reach as it is not a documented IA review.

OCTOBER 29 2021 UPDATE: Actions taken by the town of Natick after we started investigating… has led to the ultimate denial on our investigation. If you live in Natick, you should reach out to your lying selectboard. They are not protecting the public, in fact they are protecting the public with a criminal cop, and paying him with your money. Not to mention the MCAD lawsuit…

SEPTEMBER 24 2021 UPDATE: Quilty is currently under investigation by the Middlesex DA and the state police.

SEPTEMBER 20 2021 UPDATE: We added the MCAD docket number and proof Natick is presently embroiled in a lawsuit on this matter. We added info pertaining to how the town of Natick is burying Quilty’s file – via legal posturing, to make his file not subject to public records release.

THIS IS OUR INITIAL ARTICLE, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON AUGUST 9, 2021.

TOWN OF NATICK ENTERS INTO AGREEMENT WITH A POLICE SERGAENT AND THE POLICE UNIONS ABSOLVING ALL PARTIES OF ANY LIABILITY FOR A SEXUAL ASSAULT AND GIVES ONE LAST CHANCE (OR MORE …AT TOWNS DISCRETION).

This post aims to shake Natick to its core and to call out Police Chief Hicks and Officers James Quilty, Andrew Watkins, Derek Butler, Sean Taylor, Thomas Butler. This post also aims to call out the two Natick police unions, the Natick Select Board, and other Town administrators for their roles in mishandling a serious employee on employee sexual assault.

We believe that town of Natick is actively covering up the wrongdoing of a police officer by hiding what should have been public IA files, by not conducting an internal affairs investigation, and exempting all related documentation on the basis as private personnel information which is “useful in making employment decisions regarding an employee.” While we are actively appealing this denial to the Secretary of State, it has come to our attention that the officer involved is either already back, or soon to be back working as a Natick Police officer. Because we feel that this officer is a danger to the public, we are fast tracking this story for release.

We believe that on April 12, 2020 in an off-duty setting, that Sergeant James Quilty sexually assaulted a female Natick Police dispatcher by shoving his hand down the front of a female dispatcher’s pants grabbing her genitalia. Documentation supports a pattern of such inappropriate touching, in totality described documented as “sufficient to allege a violation of the Natick Sexual Harrassment Policy”. At the time, Quilty was a nearly 50-year old Sergeant and the dispatcher in her late 20’s. She yelled for help from the four off-duty police officers who were there and witnessed the act, and instead of intervening, they left. The who were purported to be the witnesses to the act were Watkins, Butler, Butler, and Taylor.

On July 2, 2020, Sergeant Quilty was put on administrative leave. During this time he received pay and benefits. He did lose a provisional sergeant pay increase with the initiation of the administrative leave.

At some point between July and October, the town of Natick hired a private law firm to conduct an investigation into whether or not the town sexual harassment policy was violated. This was not an investigation into the incident itself which is an important distinction. The Firm that conducted the investigation was Crevier & Ryan LLP out of Springfield. The investigator on the case was Kate Parsons. She interviewed the four officers witnessing the incident and it is believed that in her report it stated that all four gave deceptive statements.

On October 30, 2020, Quilty was informed in writing that an Appointing Authority hearing was to take place. By definition, an appointing authority is any person, board or commission with power to appoint or employ personnel in civil service positions.

At some point the two unions representing the Natick Police Department, the New England Benevolent Association Local 82 and the Natick Patrol Officers’ Associations stepped in.

“In exchange for the Town agreeing not to seek the termination of Officer Quilty and instead provide him with one last chance, Officer Quilty agrees to adhere to the following conditions”

In March of 2021, an in lieu of termination, a document “Last Chance Agreement and Release of All Claims” was drafted, agreed upon, and signed by Quitly, the Town, and both police unions. It is unknown why Quilty was it was determined that Quilty deserved one last chance. What we do know, is that this document was executed as a “Sealed Instrument”, in other words, signed and fastened up in any manner so as to be closed against inspection of the contents. The document, and its signing, required no admission of wrongdoing by Quilty. By signing, the unions and Quilty agree to the stipulation that any violation of the town’s Sexual Harrassment Policy by Quilty will lead to an automatic termination… at the town’s discretion.

CLICK TO ENLARGE PAGES BELOW TO VIEW DOCUMENT

Did you know? The Natick Sexual Harrassment Policy was created after another sexual harassment scandal was settled. The current policy required all town employees to attend a town hall style class, hosted by Human Resources and by a sexual harassment investigator, who warned everyone, “If you do this… I’ll find out”.

While the timeline becomes fuzzy in recent months. Our estimation based on documents we retain and will not release, is that Quilty is due to return to work mid-August. Reports from sources who have ties to the Natick Police Department, indicate that by mid-June Quilty was already back at work. Reports are that he is working as a patrol officer.

Quilty was on leave for at least a year. He was paid on administrative leave for about 8 months of that time. He was to serve a unpaid suspension of 40 shifts (his normal schedule was 4 days on and 2 days off). However indications are that Quilty was actually paid during the time he was supposed to be unpaid.

The Quilty family has a history with and extensive ties to the Natick community and may be related to why he was extended a “Last Chance”.

We do not believe that the dispatcher is the only victim of Quilty. There is a civil case underway, however around the time we started requesting documents, that case disappeared from public view. What we saw was shocking.

The dispatcher is reported to have left the Natick Police Department. Knowing she would have to continue to work for and with Quilty immediately after the incident was too much for her. She reportedly was “in fear”. We were told that she filed a MCAD (Commission Against Discrimination) case against the town. We also believe that she also sued the town and that she settled out of court and received a hefty sum of money. She continues to serve the public, now as a first responder in the field.

Now lets talk about the true coverup – public records being buried under legal protections to hide the top secret last-chance document and the investigation documents leading up to it.

We started working this case in June and filed public records requests at that time.

On June 11th we asked the town of Natick for the internal affairs file and a few weeks later the external investigation files into whether Quilty violated the sexual harassment rules of the Town of Natick. After rounds and rounds of appeals, the town decided that the only way they could NOT release the file – was to create a means to take the file out of the public records realm for an indefinite period of time.

On August 19th, in executive session (a private non-public meeting of a legislative body for executive business) the Select Board voted “to investigate charges of criminal misconduct or to consider the filing of criminal complaints.”

Based on what happened next, we know that in that executive session, the town reopened the case on Quilty.

A week after that vote on August 19th, on August 26th, the town of Natick responded to our appeal denying us the records. In this new response from the town, there were now suddenly “Additional Grounds for Withholding Responsive Records”.

It would appear that out of the blue, the town became aware of that the criminal investigation into the officer has not actually closed, therefore could not be released because that could affect the current investigation.

What really happened, is that the town was about to have to turn over records, because we had requested the right thing, using the right terminology, and had fought, arguing our case so well that there was no legitimate reason they could continue withholding. Then someone hatched a plan. They decided to open or reopen a “criminal investigation” into a matter that had been closed, the external law firm investigation complete, the secret agreement signed, the suspension served, the first civil lawsuit settled, the victim’s payout made, and the officer now back at work, and after all this, the investigation reopened.

As for the MCAD case…

On August 11th, 2021, the town’s Select Board retreated into an executive session to discuss a MCAD case.

That executive session was to discuss the case described as, “VICTIM’S NAME REMOVED v. Town of Natick, James Quilty, Cara Rossi. (MCAD Docket No. 20BEM02451).”