5/27/2020
SCITUATE – Scituate Police Chief Donald Delaere said former Town Council President John Mahoney will not be charged with a crime following allegations brought forward last week by Public Works Director Kirk Loiselle, who said Mahoney damaged a dumpster while dumping his personal trash.
Delaere said the department conducted a thorough investigation and found no intent to destroy town property when Mahoney opened a stretch chain to access a dumpster at the DPW.
“His intent was to throw trash in a dumpster,” Delaere said.
The chief was advised by Town Solicitor Wyatt Brochu against making charges. He said the offense was minor, with damages costing approximately $1.98.
The chief added that the dumpsters are owned by the town’s waste removal company, Rambone Disposal, and the town can’t make a complaint about property that does not belong to Scituate.
Delaere said he spoke with Rambone, and the company is not interested in pressing charges.
The Scituate Police Department handled the case as it would with any other resident of the town, Delaere said. He said he “got rid of the politics.”
“Fair and impartial,” he said. “Case closed.”
Mahoney said the charges were an attempt to damage his character and spread rumors around town.
The former councilman offered his side of events that occurred at the DPW, where he allegedly broke a lock on a dumpster to dispose of trash.
Mahoney said the entrance to his home at 300 Tunk Hill Road is at “the apex of very dangerous turn in the road,” and he does not receive garbage pick-up for that reason.
Since he moved there in 2006, Mahoney said he’s dropped his trash at the DPW. But he conceded in his statement that Loiselle instructed him to no longer dispose of his trash at the DPW more than three months prior to the incident on May 16.
Following that interaction with Mahoney, Loiselle began locking the dumpster to prevent illegal dumping. Mahoney this week accused Loiselle of acting as a team player for the Scituate Republicans.
Loiselle declined to comment.
Mahoney said he pays taxes for his trash removal, as anyone else in town, and he deserves equal services. In his statement, he said he arrived at the DPW on May 14 and placed his trash beside the dumpster in a plastic trash can.
He said he previously placed trash on top of the chained dumpster, only for animals to tear apart the bags and create a “weekly mess.”
“To say the least, it’s frustrating to see such a mess, which Loiselle pushes off on others to clean, week after week,” Mahoney said.
On May 14, Mahoney decided to break a link in the chain to dispose of his trash. Two days later, back at the DPW to dispose of cardboard recycling, Mahoney discovered Scituate police photographing the broken lock.
He approached police and admitted to “stretching the link” in the chain, though he said there was no damage to town property. He said the report was Loiselle’s attempt to use the SPD as a weapon.
“The stretch link was opened so I could place my trash in the dumpster as it should be,” he said.