Faces Another Case in Chelsea Tomorrow
BOSTON, Dec. 11, 2014—A private investigator pleaded guilty today to stalking and threatening three former co-workers at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, and will appear on a case with a fourth victim tomorrow, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
During an appearance today in Boston Municipal Court, JOSEPH ALLEN (D.O.B. 4/13/60) of Scituate pleaded guilty to three counts each of threats to commit a crime and annoying or harassing telephone calls, two counts of criminal harassment, and one count of stalking.
On the charges of criminal harassment, Judge Thomas C. Horgan sentenced Allen to two years in the House of Correction, which was suspended for a period of three years. He imposed a concurrent three-year probationary term on the remaining charges. During that time, Allen must undergo mental health and alcohol abuse evaluations and any treatment deemed necessary, not consume alcohol, undergo random alcohol testing, stay away from the Suffolk County House of Correction and Suffolk County Jail, and stay away and have no contact with the victims, their families, or any witnesses to the case.
The cases adjudicated today represent offenses committed against three victims in Boston; Allen will appear tomorrow in Chelsea District Court, where he faces a single count each of criminal harassment and annoying telephone calls in a case involving a fourth victim.
Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Walsh, chief of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit, would have presented evidence and testimony to prove that Allen in January 2013 began making anonymous calls to the victims, all of whom worked for the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department and knew Allen prior to his resignation from the agency in 2004. While the calls started out benign, they escalated over time to include threats; the calls were placed to the victims’ homes, workplaces, and personal cell phones and in some cases were answered by the victims’ children.
Massachusetts State Police and Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins’ Investigative Division were able to trace the calls to a disposable TracPhone with no registered subscriber information and learned that it had hit off a cell tower in Scituate more than all other towers combined. Based on the content of the calls, investigators surmised that the person responsible had previously worked with the victims and had prior military service, prosecutors said. Sheriff’s office investigators researched the background of former and current employees and identified Allen – then working as a private investigator – as a former employee who had served in the military and resided in Scituate.
Investigators obtained a warrant to search Allen’s home and vehicle and recovered the phone used to harass his former co-workers on April 9 of this year. He was arrested by State Police and Suffolk Sheriff’s investigators and arraigned that day.
Two of Allen’s victim’s appeared in court today deliver impact statements prior to sentencing, while a third submitted a written statement in which he expressed confusion over why Allen – a friend and former colleague whom he had admired – would subject him and his family to such senseless harassment.
“The question of why still goes unanswered. It creeps into my thoughts often making me questions the true feelings of coworkers and friends. ‘Why’ is the biggest question I have, and doubt it can be satisfied. The only one that knows why has lost credibility with me, my friends, and my former coworkers at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department,” the statement read.
Allen was represented by Bethany Rogers.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
