Two Braintree Officers Take Retirement Over Evidence Room Hearing

BRAINTREE, MA — Two members of the Braintree Police Department who were scheduled to face a disciplinary hearing for their roles in the department's evidence room scandal have retired, effective immediately.

A hearing for administrative charges brought against Deputy Police Chief Wayne Foster and Paul McSoley, the department’s civilian administrative and finance director, was scheduled for Friday, but with the pair's retirement, the hearing has been canceled and the two will not face any discipline from the department or town.

"Mr. Foster and Mr. McSoley failed to fulfill their responsibilities as members of the Braintree Police Department and engaged in conduct that is inconsistent with the Department’s rules and regulations," Mayor Joseph Sullivan said in a statement. "With their retirements, this sad and difficult chapter is now closed."

With the hearing called off, no members of the police department will face any sort of charges related to the 2016 scandal that rocked the Braintree Police Department. A grand jury brought forward no criminal charges and state investigators couldn't determine if anyone aside from Susan Zopatti, the officer responsible from 2013 until her death in 2016, took evidence from the room.

READ MORE --> No Criminal Charges In Braintree Evidence Room Scandal

A recently released report by Kroll, Associates found that Zopatti was unable to perform her duties and those issues were known to Deputy Chief Wayne Foster, who got an email from Zopatti in 2013 requesting an audit.

"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 states.

Zopatti killed herself in May 2016 and days after her death, an officer 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. The report did not identify why Zopatti took her life or her motivations concerning the evidence room.

The report also identified an attempted cover-up by McSoley. 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.

An audit of the room released in September 2016 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.

Russell Jenkins, who was the police chief at the time the scandal broke, retired because of the findings. Foster was placed on administrative leave around the same time.

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

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Image Credit: Dan Libon/Patch