Massachusetts State Police say there’s not enough evidence to prove Lt. John Fanning failed to take action against Michael Proctor for his inappropriate text messages.
Massachusetts State Police have shared details of the department's internal investigation into a supervisor in the Karen Read case.
Lt. John Fanning was briefly under investigation after it came to light that Trooper Michael Proctor texted a disparaging comment about the woman, who's been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, to other members of the department, including Fanning and another supervisor, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik.
In July, the department said that Fanning, Bukhenik and Det. Lt. Brian Tully, the unit's commander, were subjects of an active internal affairs investigation. Hours later, a state police spokesman confirmed that the allegations against Fanning were unfounded and the case closed; both Bukhenik and Tully have remained on full duty during the investigation into their conduct.
Fanning was investigated over whether he "failed to adequately supervise by not taking appropriate action after Trooper Proctor sent inappropriate texts to a group of subordinate members," according to a report from the state police Office of Professional Integrity and Accountability obtained by NBC10 Boston.
Investigators learned that Fanning was on a family vacation the week the texts were made, and he said he hadn't noticed the text messages on his phone that day, and only learned that he was part of the text thread when Proctor testified about them in court.
Proctor confirmed in court that, while going through Read's phone, he told other troopers he had found "no nudes so far." Proctor said in court that Fanning and Bukhenik were among the troopers in that conversation.
"Trooper Fanning and Trooper Bukhenik are your supervisors?" defense attorney Alan Jackson asked Proctor, to which he replied, "Yes."
The officer investigating whether Fanning had failed to uphold his responsibilities found "insufficient evidence to either prove or disprove that this occurred," concluded the report, which the NBC10 Investigators requested in July, shortly after state police announced the internal affairs probe.
Read it here:
The internal affairs investigations into Bukhenik and Tully were still pending as of Thursday. Proctor has been suspended without pay.
