By Steve Landwehr
The Salem News
HAMILTON, Mass. — Three of the four men indicted by a grand jury last Friday compounded the mistakes they made in falsifying medical training records by lying to investigators, according to information provided by the Attorney General’s Office yesterday.
But many questions surrounding the Police Department scandal are still unanswered, and a spokesman said most will remain so until the investigation is completed and the cases go to trial.
Friday’s indictments capped a seven-month investigation by the Attorney General’s Office into allegations of widespread fraud in the certification of Hamilton police officers as EMTs (emergency medical technicians). Those indicted were former police Chief Walter Cullen, 64, of Hamilton; former Ipswich Selectman James Foley, 48, of Ipswich; EMT trainer Henry Michalski Jr., 61, of Middleton; and Hamilton Police training instructor David Mastrianni, 45, of Hamilton.
The Attorney General’s Office did make clear that five Hamilton and four Danvers officers who falsely obtained EMT recertification agreed to accept fines and penalties for their actions rather than face criminal prosecution.
They admitted — in many cases readily — signing attendance sheets for classes scheduled in the Hamilton police station by Mastrianni, the chief’s son-in-law, who was the training instructor for the police department in 2006 and 2007. He later left the force.
Cullen was another matter.
“Unlike the above-referenced officers, Chief Cullen told OEMS (the state Office of Emergency Medical Services) investigators that he didn’t know about the hours he had been credited by Mastrianni in 2006, and that he had no need for those hours because he had taken a 24-hour refresher course at the Essex Fire Department in November 2006,” the attorney general’s office said in a press release yesterday.
That course was purportedly conducted by Henry Michalski Jr., the former fire chief in Ipswich and Essex and a training coordinator for Lyons Ambulance.
Frank Carabella, director of operations for Lyons, issued a statement yesterday saying that Michalski conducted the Essex training on his own time, as a private EMT instructor, and not for Lyons Ambulance.
Carabella also said Michalski “has been terminated from his employment at Lyons Ambulance Service and his actions in this matter in no way reflect the code of conduct ... we expect from our employees.”
Selectman accused of lying
Cullen wasn’t the only one falsely claiming to have attended the course in Essex, according to investigators. Jim Foley, a former Ipswich selectman and Wenham police officer, also received credits for them.
Then, Michalski and Foley both lied to investigators, asserting the courses had been held, investigators said.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, Harry Pierre, wouldn’t speculate about what Michalski and Foley had to gain by all this. By the time Foley signed for the course, it had been several years since he retired from the Wenham police force, so it isn’t clear why he even needed to take it.
Michalski, furthermore, also convinced other, unnamed witnesses, to lie to investigators about the Essex courses. For their duplicity, Foley and Michalski are both charged with attempting to obstruct justice.
The penalties for the offense vary, but could include fines, jail time, or both. Michalski is also charged with a more serious count of perjury.
Yesterday’s statement detailed the terms of the punishment meted out to the Hamilton and Danvers officers who obtained recertifications falsely. But Pierre would not comment on how those terms were arrived at, or why the officers were allowed to keep their jobs.
Citing an ongoing investigation, Pierre also wouldn’t say whether other public safety personnel in Essex were involved in the training violations, although the statement notes “the names of others” besides Foley and Cullen were on multiple rosters.
Pierre could not say when any of the men will be called into court.
Behind the scenes, another facet of the probe is apparently drawing to a close. All 19 Hamilton and Danvers officers who were either reprimanded or had their licenses suspended initially appealed.
John Jacob, a spokesman for the Department of Public Health, said yesterday all but two of them, Mastrianni and Hamilton Officer Michael Marchand, have dropped their appeals.
Marchand, who is entangled in a legal dispute with the town, prompted the initial investigation last summer when he complained to the state about training records irregularities.
Copyright 2009 The McClatchy-Tribune Business News