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The Stoughton police chief has filed a harassment claim against the town manager, her attorney said in a statement Wednesday, alleging attempts to smear her out of her job and referencing her role in the Sandra Birchmore case.
“The Town of Stoughton, as demonstrated by the litany of national and international headlines over the past five years, does not exactly have an exemplary record when it comes to its treatment of women and girls,” said Leah Marie Barrault, an attorney representing Police Chief Donna McNamara. “Never in my career have I seen such a nakedly transparent attempt to smear a good and honest police chief out of her job.”
Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara, who has held the position since 2016, filed a harassment complaint against Stoughton Town Manager Thomas Calter on Monday.
On Wednesday, the town named a new acting police chief and claimed McNamara “voluntarily stepped down from her duties, which is not true,” the lawyer stated.
McNamara’s lawyer said town officials had banned her from doing her duties “despite the fact that, to date, they have stated no lawful reason to do so.”
Stoughton town officials did not respond to a request for comment or verify information on the new acting chief as of Wednesday evening.
The Monday complaint against Calter claimed he engaged “in a pattern of gossip and disparagement against Chief McNamara while also calling and texting her on her cell phone virtually every day for the past two weeks,” McNamara’s statement said.
Since the complaint, the chief’s lawyer claimed he continued to “assassinate the well-earned reputation of Chief McNamara through a pattern of legally actionable and frankly misogynistic words and actions against the Town’s first female police chief.”
McNamara’s representation said she began her career in the police department in 2001, noting accomplishments including her “numerous commendations,” graduation from the FBI National Academy, the department’s voluntary state accreditation since 2012 and more. She recently signed a three-year contract, Barrault says, and was contemplating retirement in 2028.
“She has never been disciplined by any of the numerous town managers she served under, nor has she ever received a negative performance evaluation,” the statement says. “She has never been informed that her performance was unsatisfactory in any way.”
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The chief’s representation also references her work in the Sandra Birchmore case. Birchmore’s death at age 23 in 2021 was initially ruled a suicide. But following a federal investigation, former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell was charged with her murder on allegations he did so to cover up sexual abuse and her pregnancy.
McNamara’s lawyer states in 2022, she “held a press conference that would put in motion a sea of change in which she named three former police officers who had an inappropriate sexual relationship with” Birchmore.
None of the subsequent investigation’s revelations “would have seen the light of day without Chief McNamara’s leadership,” the statement adds.
The lawyer goes on to say McNamara is “guilty only of not aligning with the sexist standards that exist to keep women down the ranks in policing.”
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