Retired Methuen Police Joe Solomon has pleaded guilty today to:
- 2 counts — Perjury by Written Affidavit
- 7 counts — Obtaining Unwarranted Privileges in Violation of the Civil Service Laws
- 6 counts — Civil Service Law Violations
- 1 count — Uttering a Forged Document
- 1 count — Procurement Fraud
The charges stem from the illegal hiring of Sean Fountain by former Methuen Mayor Jim Jajuga. Fountain plead guilty to forging a diploma from the police academy to get on the police department and served no jail time. Solomon was accused of helping Fountain forge the document and maintained his innocence after being indicted in 2023.
Solomon will serve a maximum of 30 days in the house of correction, there are no fines but he will lose his pension – which he can appeal – but in the meantime will also lose his health and life insurance covering his family.
Sources close to Solomon say that he had turned down several other plea bargains that initially involved 4-5 years in state prison and at one point had an agreement with the Attorney General whereby they agreed to no jail time, pleading guilty to the misdemeanors and would not forfeit his pension.
But Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard, retired chief Scott McNamara and Acting Chief Moore attended the sentencing hearing opposing the deal, prompting the judge to reject it.
Solomon was overheard coming out of the courthouse saying that he had no choice but to take the recommendation of his attorney as each out of court settlement offer included stiffer penalties as time went on.
Had Solomon gone to trial and been found guilty, the perjury charge alone would have carried 20 years in state prison with each of the other charges carrying 5-10 years each.
The 65 year old Methuen resident is expected to be in court again this Friday to surrender to the Essex County Sheriff’s office
The core allegations are that, while chief, Solomon circumvented Massachusetts civil-service laws by taking part-time/intermittent officers and putting them into full-time positions, and that he subsequently engaged in efforts to make others believe former officer Sean Fountain had graduated from a police academy when he had not. The AG alleged Solomon hired six intermittent officers and then appointed them to full-time roles.
Facts of the case did show however that it was the Mayor of Methuen who hires police officers, not the chief and that it was not Solomon but Captain Randy Haggar who did the background check and accepted the forged police academy diploma.