Salem reaches $100K agreement with retired police officer [The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.]

Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, MA)

Jan. 19—SALEM, N.H. — Retired Deputy Police Chief Rob Morin will receive a $100,000 check from the town's insurance provider to settle several years of legal tension.

Morin left the department in June 2019, three months after he was placed on leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the New Hampshire Attorney General's Office.

That investigation lasted more than two years, until June 2021, when Morin was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

In a letter to town officials updating them, Senior Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward said Morin was being considered for charges related to interference with freedom, theft, fraud, abuse of office and falsification in official matters.

No context was provided, and Morin said the top state investigators did not call on him or accept his offers to answer questions at any point.

About the time of his retirement, Morin launched a lawsuit in Rockingham Superior Court through attorney Andrea Amodeo-Vickery.

It accused Town Manager Chris Dillon, Human Resources Director Anne Fogarty and her predecessor, Molly McKean, of slander.

Dillon told The Eagle-Tribune this week he was disappointed that the case did not go to trial, mainly because he disputes the validity of any of Morin's allegations.

"Regardless, there was value to the Town and the unfairly maligned individuals to resolving the matter and allowing all parties to move forward without this unnecessary distraction," Dillon said.

The settlement makes clear that agreeing to the terms is not an admission of guilt.

Morin's attorney points out that the document does not include a non-disclosure agreement, typically used to prevent any further public discussion.

"The settlement by the town to my client for $100,000 and a settlement agreement that does not contain the usual non-disclosure provision, ensures that my client will be able to make sure that his truth will prevail, and he can make sure that others are protected as well," Amodeo-Vickery said in a statement on Morin's behalf.

"My client's lawsuit was never about money and those closest to him knew this," she added. "But rather to assure that this never happened to an innocent person in his position again."

Morin's specific claims were of defamation, false light, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and fraud.

He believes that the three town workers he sued intentionally complicated his personal life and professional status when contributing to and handling an audit of the police department, ordered by Dillon in early 2018.

Outside agency Kroll, Inc. reviewed the processes and practices of Salem police as a first step to evaluate and obtain recommendations on improvements.

But in its completed form, the report also included a glaring third portion, which criticized the department's culture.

Morin's lawsuit alleged that Fogarty made "numerous false and defamatory statements about (him) that concerned both his conduct as the deputy chief of the Salem Police Department and as a private citizen."

McKean was also interviewed for that portion of the audit. She and Fogarty described Morin as: disrespectful, insubordinate, uncooperative, the common denominator of a lot of problems, benefiting from favoritism, threatening, intimidating, retaliatory, unprofessional, unethical, eavesdropper, hotheaded and a loose cannon.

Morin, in the lawsuit, claimed Dillon similarly made contributions that he "knew to contain statements that were untrue, false, unreliable, and libelous."

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