The Town of Stoughton placed its police chief and town manager on administrative leave Wednesday while it investigates conflicting allegations against the officials.
The move has left some residents uneasy, coming as the town’s police department has been under a microscope for allegations of officer misconduct following the 2021 death of Sandra Birchmore. In 2024, former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell was indicted for the killing of 23-year-old Birchmore, who was pregnant with what she believed was his child at the time of her death.
“This is yet another embarrassment,” said Noah Beit-Aharon, a Stoughton Town Meeting representative. “People are embarrassed that we have yet another big brewing scandal. Another scandal for our police department, another scandal for our town government.”
On Monday, Police Chief Donna McNamara sued Town Manager Tom Calter and the Town of Stoughton in Norfolk Superior Court, alleging that Calter had harassed her and improperly forced her out of her position because she is a woman. The Stoughton Select Board voted Wednesday to place both McNamara and Calter on leave while they looked into the claims, including a complaint of wrongdoing against McNamara that Calter used as grounds for his removal of her.
According to McNamara’s court filings, Calter told Stoughton police unions, “I don’t know who the next chief will be, but it won’t be a woman.”
Anthony Iaht, a lifelong Stoughton resident, said he believes McNamara’s allegations against Calter.
“He’s just been nothing but problems in our town,” Iaht said.
He’s not the only one who blames Calter. Dozens of supporters of McNamara have raised their voices in recent weeks, wearing orange T-shirts and holding signs at Wednesday’s meeting and a rally on Sunday.
But other residents are withholding judgement until the investigations are complete.
“There are some people who think that life should happen by the speed of tweet, and that’s not how small town politics works,” said Stoughton resident Rachel Lazerus. “Sometimes justice works a little more slowly.”
McNamara has been Stoughton chief of police since 2017. She revealed through an investigation in 2022 that Sandra had also had inappropriate sexual relationships with three former Stoughton police officers, including Farwell.
The renewed drama feels like salt in the wound for some residents, especially as McNamara’s lawsuit alleges that Calter told her to destroy a second internal investigation related to Birchmore’s case that the police chief produced in 2024. Calter called it a “hit piece,” according to McNamara’s lawsuit.
“I’ve seen distrust happen and be expressed,” Lazerus said. “I think it’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of healing and a lot of effort for that distrust, that is in some ways native to Stoughton, to go away.”
While the town waits for further findings to surface, Beit-Aharon said keeping both leaders out of the halls of the town government is the best way to go.
“That does seem like kind of the most warranted and measured of choices,” Beit-Aharon said. “Not every story has a good guy, and it could be that they’re both right.”
