Written by: Dan Shibilia
After more than 20 years of running Methuen like his own personal piggy bank, five years of scandal, cover-ups, and a police department in freefall, Methuen finally got the outcome residents have been demanding: former Police Chief Joseph Solomon has agreed to plead guilty to all 17 felony and misdemeanor charges against him, including perjury, procurement fraud, and civil service violations. He will serve jail time, lose his city pension, his firearms license, and his private investigator's license.
Mayor D.J. Beauregard didn't mince words, calling it the end of the “city's long nightmare” and crediting the late Mayor Neil Perry, former Chief Scott McNamara, and the prosecutors who refused to let the matter die. The deal is also expected to save the city roughly $3.7 million in pension liability over the next 20 years, and the city says it will pursue recovering close to $1 million already paid out to Solomon since his 2020 retirement.
Read the mayor's full statement here: https://cvcpl.us/9kOoZyw
This is a win five years in the making m for a community that watched a trusted institution get hollowed out from the inside, this is vindication. While it may not seem that way to many seeing as how Solomon will only see a maximum of 30 days in jail, this is a far better outcome then many predicted over the last few years.
So far, we have official statements from the mayor, the DA, and the AG but not a peep from Solomon's friends at the City Council table. It's funny because this is a group of people that love to post for the constituents after every event they attend (even if they weren't invited and nobody wanted them there) … they're silent thus far on the Solomon issue. The one standout being Councilor Simard who has been a driving force in this since his first term on the council back in 2019.
While the mayor's office, the DA, and the Attorney General's office did the work of holding Solomon accountable, the Council has had remarkably little to say… not during the indictment, not during the years of delays, and not now, as the case reaches its conclusion. Residents who lived through this scandal deserve to know whether their elected councilors were paying attention at all, or whether they were content to let the mayor's office carry the weight alone.
For me, I can't help but wonder why a man like Solomon would roll over and play dead like this.
Did he plead guilty here because it was the right thing to do? Well, I have serious doubts that all of a sudden is conscience developed and this is his way of making right by all the people he's wronged.
Or, the more likely scenario in my eyes, he plead guilty to protect those behind him who are accused in the Stirm report of helping him in this fraud like DA Paul Tucker, many at POST, and other officials.
Which one for you think is more likely?
And the case isn't fully dead yet….
Federal charges against Solomon remain pending, which raises a legitimate question worth asking out loud:
For now, Methuen has its justice.