BROCKTON — One of the city’s highest-ranking police officers makes shocking allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit.
Capt. Arthur McNulty, a 20-year veteran of Brockton Police, sued the city, Police Chief Brenda Pérez and Mayor Robert F. Sullivan. McNulty claims Brockton failed to investigate criminal activity like snorting cocaine in a police station bathroom. He also slams the city for alleged biased and unethical hiring practices, political cronyism and illegal spending.
Brockton, like many cities, does not generally comment on pending lawsuits. City Solicitor Megan D. Bridges made an exception.
“The defendants expressly deny the claims raised,” Bridges said in a Tuesday, Dec. 3 email. “We will file a motion to dismiss the allegations within the complaint in their entirety on or before December 10, 2024.”
Brockton Police Capt. Arthur McNulty speaks during the 9/11 ceremony at City Hall. Brockton held a 9/11 remembrance outside City Hall, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020.
What does McNulty allege?
In a recently updated complaint, McNulty makes four main allegations. He says they arose from his work in the department’s internal affairs unit, which looks into allegations of police misconduct:
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That Pérez “impeded” his investigation into cocaine being found in the “matron’s office” at Brockton Police headquarters
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That the city rigged its list of approved towing vendors to favor Mayor Sullivan’s friends
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That Chief Pérez showed favoritism by looking the other way when certain officers faced investigation or discipline
McNulty claims the city ordered “unwarranted and retaliatory” internal affairs investigations into his own conduct because he spoke up. He further alleges the city subjected him to an “overtly aggressive and hostile work environment” and reassigned him away from internal affairs. McNulty is now captain for administration and finance.
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Cocaine in the police bathroom
McNulty claims that cocaine was allegedly found in the matron’s office on Dec. 8, 2022, according to the lawsuit. A civilian employee in the records division reported the discovery to her supervisor, Lt. Victor Pérez, and told him she’d accidentally ingested some of the drug. Two weeks later, the same employee reported more cocaine in the bathroom.
McNulty alleges that the chief hindered his investigation by refusing to order the employee to take a lie detector test. McNulty’s attorneys say that while polygraph results can’t be used in the event of criminal charges, that they are allowed to and have been used for departmental discipline. The captain further claims the chief wouldn’t allow a sweep of the station with a drug dog.
McNulty argues that the chief pulled him off the cocaine probe, and that the investigation has never been completed.
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Conflict of interest alleged re: promotion of chief’s husband
The captain claims the chief ordered him to instead investigate Ellis for alleged harassment. This was during the time Ellis was vying with then-Sgt. Victor Pérez and then-Sgt. William G. Stafford to make lieutenant. McNulty claims he told the chief it was a conflict of interest to ding a candidate when her husband was in the mix. McNulty said he asked to bypass the chief and give his report directly to Sullivan.
McNulty alleges that the chief sent him back multiple times to redo his report on Ellis. He recommended Ellis be suspended for five days. Ellis himself complained to the state’s Civil Service Commission, which sided with him and ordered Brockton to redo its hiring process. The city proposed bringing in an independent outside consultant for a blind judging of the candidates. That review satisfied the Civil Service Commission, even though the consultant also chose Victor Pérez.
Crooked deals for certain tow companies
McNulty claims there’s corruption in how Brockton doles out lucrative police towing contracts. There’s an approved list of towing companies the police are allowed to call for illegally parked vehicles or after a wreck. McNulty said that of the 18 tow companies on the city’s old list, the majority were owned or controlled by three “identifiable groups” in what amounted to shell companies. McNulty claims he’d gone to the previous chief, Manny Gomes, with his concerns and that Gomes had allowed him to investigate.
McNulty alleges that three vendors — Brass, Lynch and Simonelli towing companies — controlled or monopolized the majority of them. After Brenda Pérez’ historic appointment as the city’s first female police chief, she asked McNulty which companies should remain on the list. He claims she spurned his recommendations and instead trimmed the list from 18 companies to 11.
Further, McNulty says one owner of towing companies, Scott Brass, wound up with five of the 11 slots. The captain in his lawsuit describes Brass as a “personal friend of Mayor Sullivan’s.”
Brass, reached Wednesday, Dec. 4, said the only factual thing about him and his companies in the suit is that he knows both McNulty and Sullivan. “It just so happens that I own a business in Brockton and it just so happens I went to school with the guy who’s the mayor now,” Brass said.
Sean Bastis and David Lynch of Lynch’s Towing declined to comment when reached Wednesday, Dec. 4.
Simonelli’s Towing wasn’t even on the city’s approved list during the time cited by the lawsuit, John Simonelli Jr. said in a Friday, Dec. 6 phone call with The Enterprise. “We had nothing to do with towing at that time,” he said, noting that Simonelli’s joined the list in early 2024. He said when McNulty came to the business to investigate in 2020, he made false assumptions based on signage at the property.
Separately, the Brockton City Council is reworking the city’s towing ordinance. Debate is scheduled for an upcoming meeting of the board’s ordinance committee.
Favoritism for some police officers
McNulty’s lawsuit also alleges three instances where the chief asked him to drop investigations or never allowed them in the first place.
One concerned an internal affairs complaint made by Police Officer Ernie Bell. McNulty said Bell refused to cooperate with the probe, even though he initiated it. The chief, in McNulty’s telling, told him to drop his investigation. McNulty said in court papers he believed the decision was wrongly based on the chief’s personal and professional relationship with Bell.
Another alleged incident cited in the lawsuit involved Capt. William Hallisey. McNulty claims that Hallisey received a pass on behavior similar to that of Officer Anthony Monteiro. According to the state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Commission, Monteiro was suspended for more than a month for an unspecified misdemeanor. “Despite obvious similarities between the allegations,” McNulty claims, “Chief Pérez’ selective enforcement of the Department’s Rules and Regulations with the two matters was drastically different.”
Bell and Hallisey could not be reached for comment.
Lastly, McNulty claims that there should have been an investigation into an officer identified in court documents only as “B.D.,” who allegedly had a harassment prevention order issued against him by the town of Walpole. McNulty argues that the department was required to report the incident to the POST Commission.
McNulty is seeking to recoup his legal costs and, under whistleblower protections, three-times the damages allowed under state law.
Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews.
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton Police Capt. McNulty files whistleblower lawsuit against city
