Press Release  Indictments Announced In Case Against Former Methuen Police Chief, Police Officer

BOSTON — On Thursday, September 28^th, former Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon and former Methuen Police Officer Sean Fountain were indicted by a Statewide Grand Jury convened at the request of the Attorney General’s Office. 

The indictments are the result of a joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office, in partnership with the Essex District Attorney’s Office, and arise from Solomon’s deployment of part-time intermittent officers into full-time positions in circumvention of the civil service laws and his subsequent efforts to deceive others into believing that part-time intermittent officer Sean Fountain had graduated from a police academy when he had not.  The indictments against Fountain stem from his misrepresentations about his training credentials, including in his employment application and in a search warrant affidavit, and for the false and forged training certificate he created to deceive others into believing that he was fit to serve as a police officer at any level.   

With these indictments, Solomon now faces charges of Perjury by Written Affidavit (2 counts), Obtaining Unwarranted Privileges in Violation of the Civil Service Laws (7 counts), Civil Service Law Violations (6 counts), Uttering a Forged Document (1 count) and Procurement Fraud (1 count).  For his part, Fountain now faces charges of Forgery (1 count), Uttering a Forged Document (1count), Perjury (1 count), Procurement Fraud (1 count), and a Conflict of Interest Law Violation (1 count). Solomon and Fountain will be arraigned in Essex County Superior Court at a later date.        

The investigation demonstrated that Solomon had repeatedly misused his position of authority as police chief to repeatedly undermine the law for his own benefit, including by hiring six part-time intermittent officers to the Methuen Police Department and then appointing them to full-time roles.  Fountain was one of these hires, and he made false statements about his qualifications to be a police officer.  

When he applied for his position, Fountain falsely claimed in his application that he had graduated from the Northeast Regional Police Institute (NERPI) back in 1996.  When questioned about his graduation from NERPI years later, Fountain produced a forged NERPI certificate documenting his graduation from the part-time police academy in May 1995, which he had not done either.  Solomon knew Fountain’s certificate was forged yet acted as if it was a real document.  

Solomon and Fountain also joined together to perpetuate a lie by falsely claiming that Fountain was a civil service officer. Solomon perjured himself on two occasions stating that Fountain was a civil service officer in annual civil service reports mandated by state law.  

The prosecutors assigned to this matter are White Collar and Public Integrity Division AAG Douglas Sheehan, Essex County Assistant District Attorney Marina Moriarty, and Victim Witness Advocate Lia Panetta. AGO Financial Investigator Sean Nagle, Digital Evidence Analyst Justin Hunt of the AGO’s Digital Evidence Lab, and the Massachusetts State Police also provided support to the investigation.  

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