By Adam Swift
Town Manager Tony Marino and Police Chief Terence Delehanty hosted a community forum at the senior center on Monday to address concerns and answer questions about the recent arrest of a police lieutenant.
James Feeley was arraigned on one count of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in late December. He was ordered held on $200,000 bail and is due back in court again on Jan. 29.
On Monday night, Marino said Feeley had not made bail as of Sunday night, and since being arrested, he has resigned from the Winthrop Police Department.
Delehanty said the investigation is being conducted by the Massachusetts State Police and that the Winthrop department has recused itself from the investigation.
Marino, Delehanty, and representatives from the town’s health department and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office were on hand for the public forum.
“It was a tragic event, there was a child involved, we weren’t certainly ready for it, but I will say that the response to it by the police and everyone involved has been phenomenal,” said Marino.
Marino said the first priority in the incident was to protect the child who was involved, and then to bring charges against Feeley.
Since there is still an ongoing investigation and there is a child involved, Marino and Delehanty said there were certain questions they could not answer.
“To say the past few weeks have been difficult, disappointing, or traumatizing because of an action of an employee of the Winthrop Police Department would be an understatement,” said Delehanty. “First and foremost, I think what we need to do is to apologize to the victim in this particular case. Also, any time you have a case like this, there is also collateral damage that is done, and of course, family members become collateral damage.”
The police chief said Feeley was the only person to blame for this particular incident.
“He is the perpetrator of this crime,” said Delehanty. “We as a community and a police department must denounce (Feeley) and stand by the victim and the victim’s family to make sure they successfully get through this process and are able to grow as any other child has a right to.”
Delehanty said he wanted to apologize to the town manager, the town council, the police department, and the community, and added that the hardworking members of the department should not be painted with a broad brush, but judged on their actions and professionalism.
“Specifically, I want to apologize to my family for the impact that this particular incident has had on them,” said Delehanty. “Living with me over the last three weeks has not been easy … but they are always there to support me and to support the department and to move me forward so I can help move the community and the department forward, and for that, I thank them.”
Winthrop Director of Public Health Meredith Hurley said her department has been working in partnership with the public safety departments for over a decade and steps in to help with mental health services and trauma response for incidents in the town.
“This is definitely one where I feel like we all felt a lot of emotion and continue to feel a lot of emotion, and it can be very triggering for people,” said Hurley.
Hurley said there are resources available both within the department and in the community for town staff and residents.
Jackie Lamont of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the Children’s Advocacy Center noted that child abuse is an issue her department deals with every day, and said there are programs available to the public to help identify the signs of abuse and approach the subject.
“We don’t like it to be in this forum, but our mission is to shine a light on these things,” said Lamont. She said her department would have resources available for town staff and residents for as long as they are needed.
At the end of the forum, Marino reiterated that the town and the police department addressed the issues with Feeley as soon as they were aware of them.
“From the time I got the call from (Delehanty) around 10 o’clock at night, from then on forward, it’s been nothing but professionalism,” said Marino. “This person was a part of the community, so there is anger, there is sadness, there is a range of emotions going through everybody and this is not easy on anybody. I can tell you I have never been prouder to be your town manager, to see how the community has responded.”