Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, one of the central investigators in the case of accused murderer Karen Read, is under internal review, his employing agency confirmed, Thursday. Proctor remains on the job.
“We have opened an internal investigation into a potential violation of Department policy by Trooper Michael Proctor,” MSP spokesman Dave Procopio wrote in an email. “Trooper Proctor remains on full duty.”
Procopio declined to specify whether the investigation is related to any one case or to expound on details of the alleged violation or violations.
Proctor, an investigator assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office, is all over the Read case files. His name has been mentioned throughout the proceedings against Read, of Mansfield, who is accused of murdering Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, by hitting him with her Lexus SUV after a night of heavy drinking at two Canton area bars.
O’Keefe’s body was found on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, the then-home of fellow Boston cop Brian Albert, who was hosting an afterparty for those who had gathered at the bars earlier in the night.
It was Proctor, according to court documents and attorneys for Read, who allegedly found pieces of the SUV’s passenger-side tail light in the area where O’Keefe’s body was found.
Defense attorneys have challenged the prosecution’s theory heavily and have painted a portrait of Proctor and other investigators in the case as being very friendly to Brian Albert and his family. Read’s defense attorney David Yannetti said at the most recent hearing in the case that Proctor texted Julie Albert to have her babysit his child.
Yannetti said Julie Albert even offered some kind of “thank you gift” following the initial stages of the investigation, which he said Proctor not only failed to decline but also asked for another gift for his wife.
Proctor has also been a focus of blogger Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney, who has been blasting the case in an attempt to defend Read.
Kearney has since been indicted on many counts of witness intimidation related to the Read case.
Special Prosecutor Kenneth Mello said that not only did Kearney directly harass Proctor, Proctor’s wife and other state witnesses in the Read case, but that he also enjoined his rabid followers — known as “Turtle Riders” — to do the same, sharing personal contact details to help them do it.
A spokesman for the Norfolk DA’s office, where Proctor works, did not immediately respond for a request for comment Thursday.
