No Criminal Charges In Braintree Evidence Room Scandal

BRAINTREE, MA — A report into the 2016 Braintree Police Department’s evidence room scandal cites a significant lack of oversight, a lack of security, and the lack of any sort of audit as some reasons for the scandal.

The report, released by Kroll, Associates, details the timeline and conclusions into the scandal that caused a structural overhaul and evident reform at the police station. While the report found that Officer Susan Zopatti, who was in charge of the room from 2013 to 2016, was unable to perform her duties, those issues were known to Deputy Chief Wayne Foster, who got an email from Zopatti in 2013 requesting an audit.

“Deputy Chief Foster was responsible for properly supervising the performance and job function of Officer Zopatti. He was ultimately tasked with overseeing the evidence program and took no steps that a reasonable police manager would have taken when presented with Officer Zopatti’s email of August 28, 2013,” the report stated.

“Deputy Chief Foster took no action in response to Officer Zopatti’s request for an audit, even though it was policy that he was obligated to follow. Further, despite being alerted to the discovery of unaccounted for money and that drugs that were listed as already being destroyed but still present in the evidence room, he took no action to address the concerns, in direct contrast to minimum best practices of police management,“ the report continues.

Despite the allegations by the report, no one will be charged by the Attorney's General office, with a grand jury unable to find sufficient charges to bring forward.

The report revealed that Zopatti struggled with alcohol and drug use, neither of which were identified or addressed by Foster or Police Chief Russell Jeknkins. Zopatti killed herself in May 2016 and days after her death, an office discovered loose packages of cocaine from previously sealed evidence bags. Some of the bags were opened and alongside drug paraphernalia, and cocaine powder in the desk drawer.

Kathy Curran of WCVB reports that Officer Susan Zopatti's May 2016 suicide followed the questioning. The report did not identify why Zopatti killed herself or her motivations when it came to the evidence room.

The report also identified an attempted cover up by Paul McSoley, the administrative and finance director for the department. In August, 2016 several inconsistencies were discovered with McSoley’s financial record keeping, and after several requests were made, electronically and verbally, for the missing deposit documents, McSoley suggested that the investigators look through archived documents while he searched through his files.

McSoley later admitted to investigators that he never made those deposits and knew the deposit slips did not exist when he directed the investigators to search the archives.

“While McSoley was not a direct report of Deputy Chief Foster, his actions and activities in handling and dispersing the seized money was something the Deputy Chief should have exercised a review function over,” the report stated.

McSorley’s practices were never investigated, despite the recommendation of Lt. Moschella to do so.

The 2016 scandal rocked the Braintree Police Department and forced the retirement of then-Chief Russell Jenkins. Following Zopatti's death, details of the state of the evidence room began to emerge. An audit of the room released that September revealed that over 4,700 pieces of narcotics evidence and over $407,000 were found to be missing, and 38 pieces of narcotics evidence were found to be compromised. Two missing guns were also found in Zopatti's home.

The audit also resulted in the dismissal of 185 criminal cases.

Since the scandal, the police department has spent thousands of dollars to improve and update the room.

Below is the full report:

Braintree Police Department Report of Investigation by DanLibon on Scribd

This story will be updated.

Image Credit: Dan Libon/Patch