PRESS RELEASE

August 5, 1998

    Contact: Eric Maxwell, Esq.

                  (617) 357-5800

   Spokesperson: Norma Shapiro

                           (617) 482-3170                                                                                                               

Whistleblowing State Trooper Vindicated

BOSTON, Massachusetts. State Trooper Robert Monahan won a 1.15 million dollar verdict against the Massachusetts State Police yesterday for retaliating against him in violation of the state’s Whistleblower Protection Law. The jury in Suffolk Superior Court deliberated for only three hours before finding the defendants liable on all counts of Trooper Monahan’s complaint. The jury also found former Lieutenant Colonel Francis Riley, the current director of public safety at Harvard University, responsible for retaliating against Monahan.

Eric Maxwell, the American Civil Liberties Union cooperating attorney who represented Trooper Monahan, said, "It’s a great day for this Commonwealth. Government employees who stand up and tell the truth in performance of their duties now know that they will be protected. Trooper Monahan, who did nothing more than report the truth to his superiors, was venally punished. He was removed from the job he loved and forbidden from participating in any criminal investigations whatsoever, without ever being charged with wrongdoing.

"On the other hand, it’s a sad and tragic day when the past and present superintendants, a detective captain, and two lieutenants of the state police, as well as a former Assistant United States Attorney, are completely disbelieved by a jury of thirteen citizens."

In 1993, Trooper Monahan blew the whistle on the efforts of state and federal law enforcement officials to protect an informant, Michael Taylor, from criminal investigation. Monahan wrote a report to his superiors detailing illegal activity by Taylor including drug running, money laundering, sexual assault, and other serious crimes. The report alleged that numerous federal law enforcement officials were close personal friends with Michael Taylor, and had brought pressure to bear on the State Police to cease investigating him. Monahan uncovered evidence that Taylor, with the aid of state police officers, had engaged in illegal wiretapping and the planting of drugs on mothers to aid their estranged husbands in custody disputes. Monahan also uncovered a pattern of what appeared to be official state reluctance to investigate or prosecute Michael Taylor.

These revelations embarrassed state and federal law enforcement agencies. In retaliation, Monahan’s superiors stripped him of most of his duties, including his right to conduct criminal investigations. As is common in whistleblower cases, they attempted to brand him as insane, unreliable, and incompetent.

Yesterday’s verdict, coming five months after a Middlesex grand jury indicted Taylor on illegal wiretapping and numerous other charges, fully vindicates Trooper Monahan.

Said attorney Maxwell, "It now falls to State Police official to apologize to Bob Monahan for their attempts to destroy a hero in their ranks."

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