Colossal Collusion
Dear Board Members:
As I’m sure you have heard, the final, falsely accused Salem Police Officer, Captain Mike Wagner (Ret.), has been found Not Guilty.
As you know Chief Paul Donovan (Ret.), Deputy Chief Rob Morin (Ret.), and Sgt. Mike Verrocchi were also accused of wrongdoing, and each of those officers were investigated by the Office of the NH Attorney General. The investigations were a result of the findings in the Kroll Audit, at least that is what you were led to believe. The truth is the information that led to the investigation by the NH Attorney General was provided by Town Manager Dillon to the AG on January 14, 2019.
On January 9, 2019, Town Manager Dillon and HR Director Fogarty entertained a meeting with all supervisors below the rank of Captain (all Lieutenants and Sergeants). The meeting was requested by former SPD Sgt. Chad Clark. Sgt. Clark then invited, via text message, all Lieutenants and Sergeants, except for, Sgt. Mike Verrocchi.
The following people attended the meeting: Lt. Shane Smith (now Deputy Chief). Lt. Kevin Fitzgerald (promoted to Captain, now retired), Lt. Joe Keating (now Captain), Lt. Tom Kench, Lt. Jason Smith (now Captain), Sgt. Steve Wydoila (now retired), Sgt. Mike Bernard, Sgt. Eric O’Brien, Sgt. Brendan Gleason (now Lieutenant), Sgt. Chad Clark (promoted to Lieutenant, demoted to Sergeant, now an Accidental Disability retiree), and despite not being invited, Sgt. Mike Verrocchi. Fortunately, Mr. Brian Pattullo caught wind of this meeting and made Sgt. Verrocchi aware. Sgt. Bob Genest (now Lieutenant) and Sgt. Justin Bagley (now Lieutenant) did not attend, as one was on vacation and the other was at training.
Shane Smith, Kevin Fitzgerald, Steve Wydoila, and Chad Clark are the only people who spoke at the meeting, while TM Dillon and HR Director Fogarty feverishly took notes (see attached notes from Dillon and Fogarty from 1-9-19). The only person to speak up and point out that the stories being told to TM Dillon and HR Director Fogarty had no basis in fact was Mike Verrocchi. In fact, Chad Clark took exception to Mike Verrocchi’s input, and the two nearly came to blows. You don’t have to take my word for it, I wasn’t there, but I suspect Mike Verrocchi will have no issue speaking on the matter.
On 1-10-19, HR Director Fogarty sent TM Dillon a memo, summarizing what was discussed in the meeting on 1-9-19. The subject line reads “police issues for meeting tomorrow confidential.” (see attached memo).
The meeting HR Director Fogarty was referencing was held on 1-14-19 at the Office of the Attorney General. TM Dillon and Mr. Pattullo met with Sr. AAG Geoff Ward, AG Investigator Scott Gilbert, and AG Investigator Jim Kinney. Sr. AAG Ward took notes (see attached notes from SR AAG Ward on 1-14-19).
Though I’ve never been asked about any of the claims, it should be beyond clear to you by now, not one thing stated had any merit. I draw your attention to page 5 of Sr. AAG Ward’s notes “Nothing is going to change @ dept. until Morin is gone.” Next, I would like to draw your attention to page 8 of Sr. AAG Ward’s notes, “Nothing is going to change until Morin is out – very good @ manipulating & covering his ass.”
It is clear to see that Sr. AAG Ward was writing notes as TM Dillon was spewing this information. On January 17, 2019, DC Morin was placed on paid Administrative Leave because the AG notified TM Dillon and Mr. Pattullo that DC Morin was under criminal investigation. The AG did not, at that time, nor any other time during the 29-month investigation, state what the allegations were. Oddly, on December 26, 2019, TM Dillon sent the entire BOS an email, stating the crimes the AG was investigating. If you compare the verbiage from that email (see attached 12-26-19 email) to the memo that HR Director Fogarty sent TM Dillon on 1-10-19, you will note some striking similarities. (ie. “Bid Rigging”). There is no NH RSA for Bid Rigging. Those are not the words of an experienced law enforcement official, those are the words of an incompetent liar, doing his best to continue to place individuals in a false and negative light.
The BOS would be mistaken to believe it is unknown that then BOS Chairman Lyons authorized TM Dillon to contract with Kroll. As you know, a single selectman has no such authority. The BOS would also be mistaken to believe that there is any assertion that has been made which is unprovable. There are #receipts and firsthand witnesses, who are willing and eager to testify.
The Kroll Audit was nothing more than a “witch hunt” and a “hit piece.” It must be acknowledged that it was effective in ruining lives and careers, but now that all the accused have been vindicated, responsible parties must be held to account.
Perhaps the BOS deserves the benefit of the doubt that it didn’t know TM Dillon was lying? If any member of the BOS still believes one word that comes out of TM Dillon’s mouth, they are not only complicit, but they likely also have culpability.
On November 21, 2018, TM Dillon emailed the entire BOS advising the BOS of a huge mistake he had made, which DC Morin brought to his attention. DC Morin was copied on the email because he requested an emergency meeting with the BOS. (see attached email 11-21-18, as well as email thread between DC Morin and TM Dillon 11-23-18). The BOS never honored his request, which likely would have avoided what has since transpired, and saved the taxpayers of Salem millions and counting.
Below is a summary of what transpired:
Chief Donovan never indicted nor charged. In December of 2020, the AG announced they would not pursue criminal charges because they could not sustain their burden of proof. The Town gave Chief Donovan a “buy-out”, which contained a Non-Disparagement clause. Since that time, new information has emerged. Let’s also remember the AG announced their investigation on Chief Donovan on the eve of the 2019 Town elections. Interesting timing, since Chief Donovan was on the ballot for the open 1-year selectman vacancy. Shane Smith and HR Director Fogarty discussed this on February 21, 2019. (see attached).
Deputy Chief Rob Morin was never indicted nor charged. No one from the AG’s office ever spoke to DC Morin formally or informally, despite his offer to testify at Grand Jury where he would not have access to counsel, and his repeated offers to report to the office of the Attorney General to answer all questions, without a grant of immunity. In June of 2021the AG announced they would not pursue criminal charges on DC Morin because they could not sustain their burden of proof, beyond a reasonable doubt, that DC Morin committed ANY crimes. DC Morin settled his lawsuit against the Town of Salem, TM Dillon, HR Director Fogarty, and Former HR Director McKean for a six-figure amount with no NDA attached. DC Morin’s lawsuit was never about money, rather he was determined that the truth and those responsible would be exposed.
The AG charged Sgt. Verrocchi with a felony and settled the case for a violation speeding ticket. The Town of Salem just paid Sgt. Verrocchi a very large sum of money, north of 200K, due to TM Dillon’s poor decisions and total incompetence.
Capt. Mike Wagner (Ret.) was just acquitted, which means he was found Not Guilty in Federal Court. Despite all the resources of the Federal Gov’t, their case, which was first brought forward by TM Dillon and later by the NH AG, was weak and had no merit. Capt. Wagner was forced to spend an astronomical amount of money to defend himself against these outrageous charges. Again, those responsible, must now be held to account.
There are others who were impacted by the actions of TM Dillon, HR Fogarty, and the inaction of the BOS. I can’t and won’t speak for others regarding their desire to file a civil suit, but I suspect this is not over for the Town of Salem or several individuals. I can and will speak to my belief about the immediate action the BOS should take.
An apology to those impacted is long overdue. Selectman Lyons allowed TM Dillon to start this ill-advised mess. The astronomical amounts of taxpayer money spent for absolutely zero results is disgusting. The BOS continues to ignore the fact that TM Dillon is being investigated criminally by the Strafford County Attorney for two separate criminal complaints and continues to ignore the fact your current Police Chief is indeed guilty of double dipping. TM Dillon knew about it because DC Morin told him. TM Dillon acknowledged this fact to Dan Linskey from Kroll on May 9, 2018 (see attached email between TM Dillon and Dan Linskey). There are likely departmental records which further confirm Joel Dolan’s illegal activity. (ie. Master schedule, payroll records).
The next thing that needs to be done immediately is to make Capt. Wagner whole. There is little doubt TM Dillon bragged that he won the arbitration concerning Capt. Wagner’s buy-out. The premise was that Capt. Wagner did not retire on a “positive basis”. You likely know that TM Dillon did not have the same fortune with DC Morin. The difference was DC Morin was never charged and Capt. Wagner was charged less than 30 days before his retirement was effective.
Capt. Wagner submitted his 60-day letter of intent to retire, as prescribed by the SPAA contract, on May 27, 2020. The effective date of his retirement was August 1, 2020. Capt. Wagner was arrested and charged on July 2, 2020. There likely was no discussion between TM Dillon and the Federal Gov’t to plan the timing of the arrest. But there likely was discussion between TM Dillon and NH AG Investigator Scott Gilbert. One may correctly ask, “why was an investigator from the NH AG office still involved in a Federal Case, in which the US Atty from NH had already recused himself from?” That would be a good question to ask, and some very smart people are already asking those questions. Scott Gilbert retired from New Hampshire State Police, shortly after he was by-passed for promotion. It is quite shocking that Scott Gilbert was permitted to be involved in this case in any manner. Perhaps there will be more to read about Scott Gilbert in the future?
Capt. Wagner has now been acquitted of those bogus charges in Federal Court. TM Dillon has withheld in the vicinity of 40-45K in monies Capt. Wagner earned, due to those bogus allegations. The BOS may or not be aware that Capt. Wagner retired due to stage 5 kidney failure. The BOS may not be aware that Capt. Wagner would likely not be with us today had he not received a kidney transplant. The BOS should now be aware that Capt. Wagner and his family have endured unimaginable hardship due to TM Dillon, and the right and smart thing to do, is to direct TM Dillon to restore those monies.
TM Dillon likely asserts that just because Chief Donovan and DC Morin weren’t indicted or charged, it doesn’t mean they were exonerated. TM Dillon is too ignorant to know that exonerated is not a legal term. He is also too incompetent to realize there must be probable cause to indict or charge one with a crime. The legal term would be “Not Guilty”, which is what happens when the government can’t prove their case, most often due to weak evidence, or in Capt. Wagner’s case, malicious prosecution. Capt. Wagner has been fully “exonerated.” In addition to Capt. Wagner’s buy-out monies, the Town also owes Capt. Wagner approximately 4 weeks of pay when TM Dillon changed his status from paid to unpaid leave on July 2, 2020, just 4 weeks before he retired.
By the way, how much longer is the BOS going to pretend to not know what TM Dillon is doing with HR Director Fogarty?
I implore you to do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Rob Morin
