Lawsuit in Bibaud case puts Worcester District Attorney behind bid to scrub arrest report

– News about elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News.

 

District Attorney on defense for a change
Worcester Telegram & Gazette file photo

Lawsuit in Bibaud case puts Worcester District Attorney behind bid to scrub arrest report.

 

The Worcester broadsheet has reported Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. allegedly directed a conspiracy to order a state trooper to scrub salacious details from a police report about the October arrest of a Dudley judge’s daughter, according to a civil lawsuit amendment filed on Friday which added the District Attorney as a defendant.

 

Busted

Filed in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of Massachusetts State Trooper Ryan Sceviour, the complaint alleges District Attorney Early led an effort to defame the trooper and, as the county’s top law enforcement official, Early unlawfully tampered with court documents pertaining to the October 16, 2017 arrest of Alli Bibaud for operating under the influence and other various charges.  

 

Do you know who my dad is?
A WBZ Channel 4 arraignment photo

Ms. Bibaud is the daughter of Dudley District Court Judge Timothy M. Bibaud and both Bibauds once worked in District Attorney Early’s office. 

 

The latest court filing claims that District Attorney Early was aware that he should not take further action regarding Ms. Bibaud’s case after a certain period because the case was being transferred given a potential conflict of interest.

 

Unduly tipping the scale of justice?
A stock photo

In turn, the complaint claims Worcester County District Attorney Early then formed a plan to obtain an altered police report and then replace the original report in the court file. 

 

The complaint further asserts District Attorney Early asked a member of the state police to facilitate the creation of an altered report. 

 

When that state police official declined, District Attorney Early called then state police chief Colonel Richard McKeon and a former colleague of the District Attorney.

 

Now former state police chief getting the third degree by the media
Patrick Whittemore/Boston Herald photo

Subsequently,  District Attorney Early, Colonel McKeon, state police Lieutenants Colonels Francis Hughes and Daniel Risteen as well as Major Susan Anderson agreed to coerce Trooper Sceviour to produce an altered police report, Friday’s lawsuit filing asserts.

 

The trooper, however, refused.

 

In an interview on Friday, Trooper Sceviour’s attorney said that the addition of Mr. Early to the litigation is based upon information contained in investigations conducted by the state attorney and an independent state police probe about the handling of Ms. Bibaud’s case. 

 

Massachusetts State Police emblem
A Commonwealth image

Added Sceviour’s attorney, “we now have a really good understanding as to what happened, and whose idea it was.”

 

“It’s clear that it was the DA that (sic) pressured the colonel to do it.”

 

Reached by phone, Mr. Early’s lawyer, Quincy resident Thomas Kiley, said, “State officials do not conspire by doing their jobs.”

 

Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
A Columbia Pictures image

“We will respond to the allegations in the complaint in due course and in the appropriate forum, and that will be the Suffolk Superior Court,” added defense attorney Kiley.

 

Conversely, “We’ll find out who’s telling the truth, and this will be under oath,” said the plaintiff’s attorney.

 

A “retirement” speech
A Nancy Lane/Boston Herald image

The plaintiff’s attorney went on to call it unfortunate that District Attorney Early “declined to take responsibility,” whereas the colonel ended up losing his job for something he had initially resisted.

 

“The DA persuaded him to do it,” added the plaintiff’s attorney.

 

Dudley District Court Timothy M. Bibaud
A Christine Peterson/Worcester Telegram and Gazette photo

“The colonel lost his job.  Unfortunately, the DA has declined to take responsibility.  Colonel McKeon is a good man.  It’s unfortunate he lost his job over this.  This never should not have happened.  None of this should have happened.  Judge Bibaud did not want it to happen.  It’s unfortunate it cost these good people their jobs and their reputations.”

Source: Lawsuit in Bibaud case puts District Attorney Joseph Early behind bid to scrub arrest report

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