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An outside investigator will now look into troubling allegations involving an officer with the Quincy Police Department.
The department launched an internal investigation last month into the allegations against officer Andrew Keenan.
The NBC10 Boston Investigators reported earlier this month that Keenan was accused of sending a sexually explicit photo of himself to a young woman with developmental disabilities back in 2017.
Keenan is politically connected — his father is longtime Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan, who retired in June, and Mayor Tom Koch is his uncle.
When the NBC10 Boston Investigators confronted Andrew Keenan and his father, the officer declined to comment, saying he was silenced by the ongoing investigation.
Investigations
Reports from the Hanover Police Department state the young woman was under the guardianship of her parents when on Aug. 17, 2017, Keenan reached out on to her on Facebook, told her he was horny, sent her the photo and asked her to send a sexual video of herself, which she did. The report also stated the Quincy officer told her to delete the conversation, that the young woman was flattered by the attention and that Keenan was remorseful.
Paul Keenan, who hired his son, was the department's chief when the accusations first surfaced. Quincy Police Department records show there was not an internal investigation at the time.
"It was investigated by two outside agencies," Paul Keenan told the NBC10 Boston Investigators. "They thoroughly vetted it, they closed the case out without any criminal complaints."
The former chief said it was handled it as an employee assistance matter. He called this part of an ongoing criminal harassment by a former, disgraced Quincy police officer.
After beginning its new internal investigation last month, the department now says it will have an independent, outside investigator look into the case.
Police reports in Hanover also state that a former Cushing student told authorities Keenan had reached out to her too that August while he had been drinking, and that the state investigated him years earlier for sexting with a student while he worked at the school. That allegation was determined to be unsubstantiated.
The office of Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz investigated all of the accusations and found there was no evidence Andrew Keenan committed any crime, calling the 2017 case an incident involving two "consenting adults."
But newly appointed Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy said he immediately ordered an internal investigation when he learned of the allegations last month, placing Keenan on paid administrative leave.
"I think it's just important that the public recognizes that we're not an agency that covers up for our own," Kennedy said. "We discipline people, we've terminated people. We take the integrity of our officers very seriously."
Andrew Keenan's uncle, Quincy Mayor Tom Koch, said he was never told about the case. In a statement, he said, "The matter was handled internally at the Police Department in 2017 so I was not informed. My expectation is that it was handled appropriately."
Koch previously said he has full confidence in the current internal review.
The state’s Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, which oversees police conduct and certifies officers, has been notified about the allegations.
