Canton Cover-Up Part 189: Canton Police Officer Intimidates Citizens Who Signed Petition To Audit Police Department After Anonymous Woman Claims Her Signature Was Forged

 

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Several weeks ago concerned citizens of Canton launched a petition to hold a special town meeting to do three things in light of the Police Department’s mishandling of John O’Keefe’s murder, and the Select Board’s censorship and failure to hold the Police Department accountable:

1. Discussion with Select Board and Police Chief about the Police Department
2. Whether or not to vote “no confidence” in the Select Board and Police Department for not meeting ethical standards and good governance
3. Whether or not to hire an independent auditor to investigate the SB and CPD

The effort was organized by award winning journalist Kathleen Howley, who organized a drive to get the necessary 200 signatures from registered voters to call for the special town meeting. They received well over 300 signatures, and successfully got the meeting scheduled for November 20.

Amongst the concerns for the people of Canton are:

• Selectman Chris Albert, a man with over $60K in tax liens, dozens of civil court judgments against him, and a previous 6 month incarceration for killing a man, is in charge of a $145 million annual budget.
• Police Chief Helena Rafferty accused peaceful protesters in town who attended the July 22 rolling rally of being guilty of felony witness intimidation.
• Chief Rafferty refuses to answer questions from taxpayers on the record, opting to only have private one-on-one conversations.
• Chief Rafferty refuses to look into the fact that her officers reported not finding any pieces of Karen Read’s tail light, or John O’Keefe’s shoe, when they responded to 34 Fairview Road on January 29, 2022, but the State Police found 35 pieces of tail light and the shoe 12 hours later after 18 inches of snow had fallen.
• The Select Board banned public comments at meetings, and only allowed them after being threatened with a lawsuit by the ACLU.

There is nothing that elected and appointed leaders in Canton fear more than accountability, which is why it was necessary for the citizens of Canton to take this unusual step to force transparency. However, the citizens of Canton may have underestimated just how committed the people who run their town are to maintaining the status quo, because the Canton Police are now intimidating the organizers and threatening to investigate them for criminal behavior after an anonymous complaint about a fake signature.

To summarize:

• An anonymous “victim” allegedly went to CPD on October 19, claiming that her signature was forged, which police called a “very serious crime.”
• Canton Police have begun to visit the homes of people who signed the petition to ask them if they did in fact sign it, where they signed, when they signed, and if they were coerced into signing it, which many find intimidating since they are essentially endorsing an investigation into the Police Department itself.
• Howley received a phone call from Officer Ted Lehan, demanding to know the identities of the people who were in charge of collecting signatures so that they could be investigated by police.
• When Howley asked Officer Lehan the name of this “victim,” he refused to tell her.
• Howley says that the police should not have even seen the petition, or any of the names on it, since it was submitted at Town Hall. Since they are calling people whose names are on the petition then it is strong evidence that someone at Town Hall leaked the information to police, for the purposes of intimidation.
• The anonymous victim would have had no way of knowing that her name was on the petition if she didn’t sign it, because the petition was not made public record.
• This means that it is either an outright lie, OR that someone who opposes the movement for transparency signed their name or another person’s name with the intention of later claiming that their signature was forged (ID is obviously not required to sign a petition).

It’s almost like they have something to hide.

There is no length that the police and town officials won’t go to in order to avoid transparency, and they don’t care how it looks. In Canton there is a culture where the police are above reproach, and the 5 lifetime townies on the Select Board have no desire to hold the police accountable. These people have known each other their entire lives, and they’re not about to let a bunch of opinionated middle aged women disrupt the way things have always been done.

The officer in charge of tracking down and intimidating taxpayers into giving him names so he can accuse them of committing a crime, is school resource officer Ted Lehan.

Just like countless other officers in the department, Lehan’s father was a Canton cop. When you enter CPD headquarters you are greeted by a “Hall of Honor” that is filled with last names of current officers, almost all of whom graduated from Canton High School. Here’s a picture of Lehan with 1991 graduate Kevin Albert, and 1998 graduate Sean Goode (the sergeant and close friend of Jill Daniels and Courtney Proctor who was in charge on the morning John O’Keefe was murdered INSIDE 34 Fairview Road).

At tonight’s meeting the Board will be holding a vote to appoint Lehan to a position called Police Prosecutor Officer.

I have no idea what that position entails, but I can all but guarantee you there will be no debate and he will be appointed with a 5-0 vote. He’s a townie, legacy, white male cop, who is doing his part to try to prevent the special town meeting from auditing the Police Department and Select Board. That’s all they need to know to vote for him.

 

The Police in Canton treat certain people, like the McCabes and Alberts, as royalty. These protected people were not investigated after a dead body was found on Brian Albert’s front lawn, or after Jen McCabe’s 2:27 AM Google search for “how long to die in cold” was discovered. Their houses were not searched, and their devices were not seized. The Police Chief threatened to have people arrested for lawfully protesting outside of their homes on public streets, and said that the McCabes and Alberts were innocent despite never investigating their involvement in John O’Keefe’s death. They have done nothing to find out who was driving the Ford Edge parked where O’Keefe’s body was discovered at 3 AM, but they have plenty of time to harass and intimidate citizens who are demanding transparency.

Luckily the town of Canton is filled with highly educated, highly motivated, and resourceful people, who will only be more determined to hold officials accountable as a result of this latest intimidation tactic.