By Keith Eddings
The Eagle-Tribune
NEWBURYPORT, Mass. — The Eagle-Tribune and Daily News of Newburyport are asking public records officials to direct the state Department of Public Health to release records involving its decision to hire a former Newburyport police sergeant two months after he resigned from the force after admitting to an act of public lewdness.
The newspapers filed requests for the records on March 8 and 11 under the state’s Public Records Law, which gives public agencies 10 days to respond. The Health Department has not responded beyond saying the request for the records is “in legal review.”
Stephen Chaisson, an officer for 18 years, said in a letter of resignation dated Jan. 6, 2014, that he was resigning “due to an illness.” The city at the time refused to release records involving the circumstances of Chaisson’s resignation, saying only that he decided not to return to work after an extensive vacation. In fact, Chaisson had been on administrative leave, not vacation, while the city investigated the lewdness allegation that led to his resignation.
Two months after Chaisson resigned, the state Health Department hired him as director of compliance and investigations for its medical marijuana bureau. He held the job for two years, until Feb. 26, when a Boston television news station reported his resignation from the Newburyport police force came after a woman accused him of masturbating in his truck while he watched her at an ATM machine.
Chaisson initially denied the allegation during an internal affairs investigation, but agreed to take a lie detector test if the city agreed not to prosecute him. He failed the test, admitted to the allegations and resigned. He left the department on Nov. 22, 2013, and used vacation time to extend his resignation date until the following Jan. 6.
The details of Chaisson’s departure were unknown until WCVB Channel 5 won an order from the secretary of state directing the city to give the station records it sought under the Public Records Law.
The Health Department put Chaisson on leave on Feb. 11, the day before Channel 5 broadcast the story. He left the department on Feb. 26, but the department has refused to discuss his departure, including even to say whether he resigned or was fired.
Either way, Chaisson’s sudden departure leaves open the possibility that the Health Department did not know the events that led to his resignation from the Newburyport police force when it hired him, which would raise questions about its vetting process.
It’s also possible the department knew Chaisson resigned after he was accused of public lewdness – and lied about it to police investigators – but hired him anyway and then fired him only after the details became public, which would raise other questions.
On March 8, the newspapers asked the Health Department for copies of all communications involving Chaisson between the department and any employee of the City of Newburyport, including Mayor Donna Holaday, former Police Marshal Thomas Howard, current Police Marshal Mark Murray and Newburyport city councilors.
On March 11, the newspapers filed a second request with the Health Department seeking copies of the job posting for the job of director of compliance and investigations at the time Chaisson was hired. The newspapers also sought records indicating any security clearance required for the position and records indicating who else may have applied.
On March 29, after receiving no substantive response, the newspapers sent an email to department spokesman Scott Zoback asking about the status of its request for the records.
On March 31, Zoback responded, “Both of these (requests) remain in legal review and in process.”
Almost a month later, there has been no further response, prompting the newspapers’ appeal to the secretary of state seeking an order directing the department to provide the records.
The newspapers asked the city of Newburyport for similar records. The six documents the city provided in response included no emails or other communications with the Public Health Department, again leaving open the possibility the department may not have vetted Chaisson with the city before hiring him.
“The city at this time also believes there are no documents, emails or notes relative to any interaction between the mayor and (the state Health Department) concerning the employment of former Sergeant Chaisson,” said Darren Klein, a lawyer with Kopelman and Paige, a Boston law firm that represents the city. In a separate response, Klein said the Police Department also has no record of any communications with the Health Department involving Chaisson.
Zoback, the Health Department spokesman, and Mayor Holaday did not return phone calls seeking to determine if the department and any city officials talked by phone between the time Chaisson resigned his city job and was hired for the state one.
The six records the city provided included an email from Heather Rowe, Holaday’s former chief of staff, advising Holaday about how to inform the City Council that a Boston station was working on the story about Chaisson’s resignation.
Rowe also warned the mayor about the dangers of discussing the case in emails.
“Remember, your e-mail is a public record and all it takes is one person to forward it to the world; no one will keep it to themselves,” Rowe advised Holaday in her email.
In her email to the mayor, Rowe called the allegations against Chaisson “difficult and disturbing.”
Copyright 2016 The Eagle-Tribune