I haven't done this in a long time and this story made me laugh so much, I couldn't resist.

Time to go toe-to-toe with the DA - by Robert Slager (The Wareham Observer)

Please note, proper works cited above.  Shove your threats of a copyright suit up your....you know where.

   

The time for patience has now officially ended. Two weeks ago the Board of Selectmen threw down the gauntlet, demanding that the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office return copies of town-owned computer disks that were confiscated without notice and without apparent legal justification.

This according to the Selectmen and the Selectmen only.  Do we have verification that they have actually done this? No!

   

Those disks may hold evidence of a money-laundering/embezzlement scandal that has rocked the Wareham Free Library.

Really?  I thought they held blogging, porno, gambling, and online shopping?

I

nterim Town Administrator, acting under the direction of the Board of Selectmen, ordered an audit of all town-owned computers in May. Once all the hard drives of those computers were copied and delivered to an independent computer forensic, the District Attorney’s office, without a court order, took all the potential evidence and has never told anyone why.

What is funny (and sad at the same time) is that the BOS took the drives without reason why.  And Bobo expects us to believe that is was wrong what the DA did, but what they did was perfectly fine.

Then a special grand jury was convened, and dissolved, without issuing any findings regarding the computer disks.

Once again, the source on this was Bruce and Bruce only.  No one from the DAs office has confirmed this.

   

There appears to be no legal justification whatsoever for the DA’s refusal to return the disks to the town. Two weeks after selectmen demanded the disks be returned, the DA’s office has maintained its stone silence on the issue.

There seems to be no logical reason for the BOS taking the disks to begin with.  I feel safer having them with the DAs office rather then the BOS and butt monkey.

That’s about to come to an end. On Monday afternoon I personally filed a public information request with the Town of Wareham for copies of all computer disks relating to the computer audit of the Wareham Free Library and the Municipal Maintenance Department. By law the town has 10 days to comply with my request or a violation of public records law will have occurred. I am aware that the town will not likely be able to fulfill my request.

Well, that's due in part to the fact they don't release any public records in the time frame allotted.  Ask around.

When that happens I will file a formal complaint with the District Attorney’s office to investigate the town’s non-compliance with public records law. That will force the District Attorney to investigate its own actions relative to the disks. As a citizen of the Commonwealth, I would expect a written response to my formal complaint from the District Attorney’s office. I will seek an explanation as to why the District Attorney is forcing the Town of Wareham to violate public records law.

And they will tell you as a citizen you don't get to know jack shit about investigations until charges are brought about. Why don't you waltz into the Police Station and force them to tell you the details of their next undercover sting?  What's the penalty for the town not giving you the records?  A reprimand and an apology!

   

In my opinion the District Attorney has no legal authority to keep the computer disks. Those disks are the property of Wareham.

Really?  I'm pretty sure they are COPIES of the hard drives in which the private computer company owns because they made copies on their own equipment.

The computer audit was paid for by taxpayers of this community.

Remember that folks, you DIDNT ASK FOR IT, BUT YOU PAID FOR IT.  $65,000+

The District Attorney’s office cannot ignore a public records law complaint from a citizen of the Commonwealth. If it does I will ask the Attorney General’s office to intervene on my behalf.

And they will tell you to pound sand.  And all you will do is bitch moan and complain on your shitty blog about it.  Meanwhile, your buddies on the board will get their butts run out of office for the whole ordeal.  Cuz lets face it, THAT BLUNDER (AUDIT) would cost them the election all by itself.

If that fails I will file a lawsuit against the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office for violating my civil rights.

No you won't!  Do you realize that costs money?  Money that you don't have.  I missed the part in the Bill of Rights and Constitution that said you have the rights to all public records and those that do not give them to you will be punished.  Civil Rights have more to do with descrimination based on gender, sex, religion, race, etc.

It never should have come to this, but the Wareham Observer has been entrusted to provide information to its readers, and that is a responsibility I take very seriously. It has become clear to me that the District Attorney has no intention of investigating the allegations of corruption at the Wareham Free Library.

Feel free to change what the computer audit was about to best suit YOU.  You can't even keep the reason straight.  You said you KNEW what the audit was about in the begining.  IF that was the case, why was the BOS so surprised when you dropped the laundering fantasy?  They would have already know.  And probably would have mentioned it during their lawsuit with the library or even when Brucie and Bobo were before the Grand Jury.  You know, when the GJ asked, why did you conduct the audit?

I will be requesting those transcripts when they become pubic.  I'm sure it's interesting reading.

It’s not because those allegations are false. It’s because those allegations are true

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If your proof is solid, there isn't a law enforcement agency that would turn you away.  You have the proof (allegidly), you should have brought it to the proper authorities before printing it on the front page.  That's where you lose your credibility.  Ego before logic.

   

I’ve been forced to walk a delicate path the past month regarding this story.

Any threats like you feared?  No?  I'm sure you can make up a few.

Journalists are taught very early in their careers never to cross the line into law enforcement. That isn’t the role of a journalist. If a reporter prints information suggesting criminal activity, law enforcement is supposed to pick up the ball and run with it. Notes are not supposed to be exchanged. Law enforcement has all the tools necessary to conduct its own investigation with no help from the media.

But with no proof, your really just blowing smoke.  What if someone here, that you know doesn't like you, someone you've had an ongoing history with wrote you were involved in a crime.  What if someone wrote you hit someone with your car last night on the way home.  They have no pictures, they don't have the victims body, They didn't see it, but someone told them it happened.  They can't tell you their name because they are in fear for their life.  Should the cops come knocking?!

Despite all that, I still contacted the DA’s office nearly a month ago. I was willing to share what I knew up to the point of revealing my sources. My phone call was never returned.

God forbid they are busy putting child molesters, gang members, arsonists, muderers, and other hardened criminals away.  Gee we really need to make time for this crack pot reporter that has no proof.

   

I am also absolutely committed to protect my sources. I have sworn this to them, and I am a man of my words. Unless these sources are willing to go to law enforcement, and thus far they have been too frightened to do so, law enforcement will have to do conduct its own investigation into these allegations.

Well maybe if you have a real source, they'll grow a pair of balls and report it properly.  Instead they pick and even bigger coward to report it too?

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ut the District Attorney’s office has refused to do so. These people have refused to investigate these allegations for the same reason they refuse to return the computer disks to the town – 11 people who were named on the library ledger presented to me by a former library trustee are donors to the Plymouth Country Republican Committee.

Yes, losing those 11 contributions would be DEVISTATING to their campaigns.  Oh no, what will they do without that money.  Their career in politics is over.  Are you insinuating that if I were to contribute money to the DAs campaign.... I could get away with any crime I wanted because they don't want to lose my support? 

Yes, I said it. I am now formally accusing the Plymouth Country District Attorney’s office of covering up alleged crimes for political purposes. District Attorney Timothy Cruz is a Republican. So is Rep. Susan Williams Gifford, whom according to an Observer source bragged of writing a letter to the District Attorney’s office with the intent of halting the computer audit, a charge Gifford denied in the Wareham Courier. Gifford’s husband Mark is head of Municipal Maintenance in Wareham and has been investigated by the Inspector General’s office for alleged wrong-doing within his department.

If they were as powerful as you make these people out to be, you would have disappeared a long time ago.  This isn't television.

   

The Observer has learned that more than 75 percent of all library documents during Mary Jane Pillsbury’s tenure as director were destroyed prior to her retirement. To prove that I filed a separate public information request on Monday for copies of documents pertinent to one aspect of this newspaper’s investigation into the library allegations. I am willing to bet the town will not be able to find those documents.

Shouldn't you have already had this?  Were you not in the middle of a three year investigation of corruption in town?  Your just NOW looking for evidence?  What a liar. 

And that’s the whole point. The people who allegedly conducted a money-laundering/embezzlement operation through the library were very careful to cover their tracks. If the town will not conduct its own forensic audit of the library documents and the DA refuses to get involved the Observer will find what we’re looking for through public record law.

No you won't, but you will continue to distract the public from the corruption of the BOS.  Good boy, now sit!  Here's your treat.

   

I already know much of what we will, and will not, find. There will be no records of the books that were sold as surplus to the public. Anything the library sells is supposed to be recorded as surplus. Those records no longer exist, if they were ever created at all. We will discover that thousands of books that were ordered by Mary Jane Pillsbury are no longer on the shelves. We will discover that nearly $200,000 in revenue from the library’s copy machines were never given to the town over a 10-year period.

Blah Blah Blah.... same garbage different day

There are two things I am praying will be found – a computer copy of the ledger and more information about an allegation that the Observer hasn’t reported yet. In my first story about this scandal I listed three ways in which money was allegedly embezzled from the library - revenue from the copy machines was never given to the town, new books bought with taxpayer dollars were sold at used book sales, and new books were sold directly to private citizens and groups. Two former library trustees have told me they would testify to these allegations in court.

Yet not to any law enforcement agency. I'll tell the crappy paper, then something will be done.
 
   

But I haven’t reported the biggest component of the alleged money-laundering/embezzlement scheme yet because I want even more proof before I accuse specific Wareham residents of committing felonies. I believe that proof is contained on the computer disks copied from the library by the town. And this allegation involves more than just the Wareham Free Library. That’s why it is extremely important to proceed with the utmost care right now.

Once again, you reported porn, gambling, shopping, etc....  Were those lies?

I strongly believe the District Attorney’s office already knows all this. I believe that office is actively engaged in a cover-up and I intend to prove it. I believe the DA planned to sit on the computer disks until the current Wareham Board of Selectmen could be replaced with one more sympathetic to the sins of the past.
    It will not get that far. This ends now. The truth waits for no one, not even the district attorney of Plymouth County

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And when they charge you with interferring with their investigation, it's you that will be behind bars.... Just my opinion.