Private Investigator Hired to Look into Newton Police Chief

Newton Police Chief Matthew Cummings was stripped of his badge and gun Wednesday morning.

Newton Mayor Setti Warren says he is moving to fire Cummings after an investigation concluded the chief acted inappropriately. The city hired a private investigator to look into claims by Cummings’ former secretary, Jeanne Sweeney Mooney. Mooney claims the chief verbally abused her two years ago, embarrassed her, and even kicked her in the ankle one time.

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Cummings admits he kicked Mooney, but says it was an innocent act.

“I kicked the shoe off of her foot and I didn’t do it violently, I didn’t do it hard,” Cummings said, saying Mooney’s shoe was hanging off.

But the city’s investigator concluded there was sufficient evidence to support Mooney’s claims, noting Cummings’ kick left a “bloody cut” and “sent the shoe flying, breaking its heel.” According to a summary of the investigation, Cummings’ actions did not seem to be angry or malicious in nature, but a failed attempt to be funny.

“I didn’t run a hostile work environment,” Cummings said. “I didn’t go around calling people names.”

Mooney also says the chief framed her for a crime in September of last year, accusing her of stealing $660 from an office envelope.

“We caught her in the act of doing something. We acted on it properly and this is just a result, it’s happened as a result of that,” said Cummings.

Mooney has been on paid leave from her job as the chief’s secretary for nearly a year now and was charged earlier this month with larceny over $250, charges she now hopes will be dropped.

As for Cummings, he plans to fight to get his job back.

“I’m not going to leave after 32 years of good service with this type of thing over my head,” he said.

Mooney says she took her complaints about the chief to a captain within the department, but they weren’t addressed. She is suing the city for her alleged treatment while working for the department.

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