Jul. 12—Former Andover Youth Services Director Bill Fahey admitted to the misconduct that led to his firing, according to court documents.
"The investigator issued a report which made detailed findings that Fahey had engaged in inappropriate conduct. Those findings were corroborated by other witnesses, including Fahey's own admissions, and by other evidence, including Fahey's own text messages," according to the town's response to Fahey's lawsuit written by attorney Leonard Kesten.
Kesten's response details how the town sets a higher bar for its employees rather than "merely avoiding 'criminal or sexual misconduct.'" He also explicitly rebuffs that Fahey's firing was part of a "vendetta" by Town Manager Andrew Flanagan and that there was any wrongdoing in Fahey's termination.
The response comes just over a month after Fahey first filed his lawsuit alleging defamation by Flanagan and that he was wrongfully terminated.
Both Fahey's lawsuit and the town's response rely on a report created by attorney Regina Ryan from Discrimination and Harassment Solutions. The town paid $13,425 for 54 hours of work over eight weeks, Flanagan has said.
The report was largely based on complaints first investigated by the Essex District Attorney's Office, Kesten wrote. The complaints did not rise to potentially charge Fahey with any crimes, so instead the DA advised the town to look into the allegations, Kesten wrote.
Ryan used a videotaped interview with a 26-year-old woman as the basis for the investigation, Kesten previously said.
In the interview, which was independently obtained and reviewed by The Eagle-Tribune, the now 26-year-old describes an intimate though non-sexual relationship with Fahey that started when she was 15.
She alleged spending long hours with him individually and that he would discuss his sex life with her.
Fahey's lawyer Daniel Murphy denied all of the woman's allegations against the former youth services director.
The entirety of the report — which includes further interviews with the woman, other witnesses and text messages, according to Kesten — has yet to be released.
Town officials replied to a request for the report by blacking out nearly all 140 pages of the document, save for the already publicly available employee handbook and Fahey's union contract. The Eagle-Tribune is currently appealing the town's response to the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office, which ruled Thursday the town has 10 days to provide a less redacted version of the report to the public.