Trooper
investigated on abuse of power claims
State Police looking into possible harassment of daughter’s rivals in apparent
love triangle
By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
 Trooper Danielle Pires |
WORCESTER—
State police are investigating one of their own in the wake of
accusations a trooper abused her authority, lodged false criminal
charges and harassed rivals of her teenage daughter.
At the core of the situation is an apparent love triangle involving
a 22-year-old city man who was shot to death during a street robbery
last summer in Somerville, the 23-year-old mother of his two
children, and the 19-year-old daughter of Trooper Danielle Pires.
The man, Bernard A.D. Johnson, who was well known to Worcester
police at the time, had given the trooper’s daughter, Desire, an
engagement ring just hours before his death, according to a member
of the Pires family.
Tanika Fontanez, mother of Mr. Johnson’s children, and two friends,
Jaarmil S. Tharpe and Kaamil Jenkins, who are brothers, allege that
they had been harassed for more than six months by Trooper Pires and
her daughter, culminating in an incident Jan. 19 that resulted in
the arrest of the two men and the threat of criminal charges against
Ms. Fontanez.
According to a report filed by Worcester Police Officer Kevin P.
Krusas, police were notified at 2:30 p.m. that day that two patrons
at the Mobil station at 334 Grafton St. had been robbed. Officer
Krusas learned when he arrived that one of the victims of the
reported robbery was Desire Pires.
The officer also encountered Trooper Pires, who had arrived before
he did. The trooper was not at the gas station at the time of the
reported robbery but was near enough to get there quickly.
She told Officer Krusas she had followed two suspects, later
identified as Mr. Tharpe and Mr. Jenkins, to a nearby apartment on
Houghton Street, went inside and was attacked by one of the men and
Ms. Fontanez. Trooper Pires said she returned to her vehicle and
called for help, which resulted in both state police and city police
going to the scene. The building was searched, but none of the three
— Mr. Tharpe, Mr. Jenkins or Ms. Fontanez — was found.
Mr. Jenkins is in Worcester County House of Correction awaiting
trial on charges of unarmed robbery and assault and battery on a
police officer, both counts stemming from the Jan. 19 incident. Mr.
Tharpe is charged with the same offenses, but is free on $2,500 cash
bail. Their cases have been continued to March 29 in Worcester
Central District Court.
Ms. Fontanez said she was told by authorities that she also would be
charged with assaulting Trooper Pires, but has not received a court
summons.
The three adamantly deny any robbery took place or that they
attacked or threatened the trooper, saying the incident was another
example of the state police officer’s continued harassment resulting
from Ms. Fontanez’s relationship with Mr. Johnson.
“I knew she was a state trooper. I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t put my
hands on her,” Ms. Fontanez said.
Mr. Tharpe also denies he robbed Desire Pires or assaulted her
mother. His brother, he added, wasn’t even there when the alleged
assault is supposed to have occurred.
State police Lt. William J. Powers would not discuss specifics of
case, but did confirm that an internal investigation is being
conducted. Trooper Pires remains on duty pending the outcome, he
said.
“We understand that there was an incident that took place back in
Worcester in January and that a complaint has been made,” the
lieutenant said. “Immediately upon receiving that complaint, we
initiated an investigation that is still ongoing.”
He also said that it is “my understanding that she responded (to the
alleged crime scene) as a parent.”
Worcester Police Department spokesman Sgt. Kerry F. Hazelhurst said
the matter has been reviewed. He declined to comment on specifics,
saying only, “Based on the information given at the time by the
victims and based on the information at hand, we took out the
appropriate charges. The charges of assault and battery on a police
officer were based on, as she (Trooper Pires) explained to us, that
these folks knew she was a state trooper.”
Trooper Pires, contacted last Thursday, said she could not discuss
an ongoing investigation.
Ms. Fontanez and Mr. Tharpe, 20, were interviewed at city police
headquarters last month by Detective Lt. Debra A. Simon of the state
police internal affairs unit.
Mr. Tharpe and Ms. Fontanez claim they had been harassed by Trooper
Pires and her daughter, particularly through e-mails to their
MySpace accounts. They said the harassment grew worse after Mr.
Johnson’s death.
A Worcester police report states that a friend was pumping gas into
Desire Pires’ car at the Mobil station on Jan. 19 when Mr. Tharpe
“and a friend” (actually his brother, Mr. Jenkins) walked up to the
car and began to argue with her. Mr. Tharpe, according to the
report, then punched her in the face, grabbed $40 and some
cigarettes from her, and fled with the other suspect.
Mr. Tharpe, who is gay, said he and his brother were at the station
at the time. The incident began, he maintains, when Desire Pires
made a derogatory remark about his sexuality. He said he then walked
up to the car and slapped the 19-year-old in the face.
“I don’t even smoke cigarettes. My father just died from lung
cancer,” Mr. Tharpe said. “We didn’t take cash either.”
Mr. Tharpe said he wasn’t charged with the act he says he did commit
— slapping Desire Pires.
Ms. Fontanez provides this account of what transpired after the
incident at the gas station:
Walking along Houghton Street to her apartment, she said she ran
into Mr. Tharpe and Mr. Jenkins, who told her about the incident
minutes earlier. Mr. Jenkins then went another direction and she and
Mr. Tharpe were in front of her apartment house when Trooper Pires
pulled into the driveway, got out of her car and accused them of
hitting her daughter and continued yelling as they entered the
building.
Ms. Fontanez said she and Mr. Tharpe were on the second floor and
could see additional state police cars coming down Houghton Street
so they left through a back door. She said she and her two children
stayed with a friend that night and discovered the next day that the
apartment had been searched “like it was raided.” Numerous photos of
her and Mr. Johnson were either ripped up or missing, she added.
Mr. Tharpe said he went to the Worcester police station later that
night, after authorities had showed up at his mother’s house in the
city looking for him. He was held on an outstanding shoplifting
warrant.
He was charged with unarmed robbery and assault on a police officer
when he appeared in District Court on Jan. 22. Mr. Jenkins was in
court that day visiting his probation officer and was arrested by
Worcester police and charged with the same crimes.
In court that day, Mr. Jenkins allegedly threatened Trooper Pires
because of the charges she had filed against him.
Trooper Pires, who became a state police officer in August 2002, has
served in the Holden barracks and the public affairs section. She is
working in the office of diversity and equal opportunity in the
recruitment office based in Framingham, state police said, and has
made public appearances to discuss opportunities for women in law
enforcement.
In 2005, she donated a kidney to a lifelong friend.
Ms. Fontanez and Mr. Johnson grew up together in the Great Brook
Valley housing project. She said that the friendship blossomed into
a romance and the two had a daughter, Niiyel, now 3, and a son,
Bernard Jr., who is 1.
Mr. Johnson had a close relationship with Desire Pires for three
years, according to member of her family.
Relatives said she had picked him up at Logan airport the night he
was shot, and that he proposed to her on the ride back to the
Somerville home of a relative.
A member of Mr. Johnson’s family, however, disputes that.
“I believe that he did give her a ring,” said Mr. Johnson’s younger
sister, Daphne Smith. “He was a very generous person. They were
close friends for three years. He was not engaged to her.”
Mr. Johnson and Ms. Pires left the home in Somerville about 1 a.m.
Aug. 30 when a man allegedly attempted to steal Mr. Johnson’s gold
chain, Middlesex Superior Court records said. There was a fight, the
suspect called for help, and a second man shot Mr. Johnson several
times. He died a few hours later at Cambridge Hospital.
Both suspects have been charged in connection with the crime. Their
cases were continued to March 12 in Middlesex Superior Court.
Ms. Smith said she saw Desire Pires Oct. 2 at her brother’s
gravesite in Paxton. The two got into an argument and haven’t spoken
since.
His sister said Mr. Johnson had been talking with Ms. Fontanez about
moving to Alabama with him. Mr. Johnson had moved to Alabama a few
months before his death for a new start, said Ms. Smith, who
acknowledged her brother’s criminal record in Massachusetts.
“He wanted Tanika and the kids to move down to Alabama and have a
normal family life,” Ms. Smith said. The family tried to convince
Mr. Johnson to stay away from Desire Pires. They were convinced she
was trouble, Ms. Smith said.
Stacey Pires, sister of Trooper Pires, countered that it was Ms.
Fontanez and Mr. Tharpe who have harassed her niece since Mr.
Johnson’s death. She said the two threatened Desire Pires at the
funeral parlor during Mr. Johnson’s wake.
“Even in the funeral parlor, it was like a zoo,” said Stacey Pires,
adding that she, her two daughters, and Trooper Pires were all there
with Desire. “We went to pay our respects.”
She said funeral home employees had to escort her family out because
of threats made to them.
“My sister went as far as offering them (Ms. Fontanez and her
children) assistance at Christmas,” Stacey Pires said. Trooper Pires
offered to give Ms. Fontanez money or to buy Mr. Johnson’s children
gifts, but Ms. Fontanez allegedly rudely declined, Stacey Pires
said.
“They are trying to twist this whole incident and say my sister is
harassing them,” the sister added.
After Mr. Johnson’s death, a state Department of Social Services
employee contacted Ms. Fontanez and said the agency had received an
anonymous complaint that she was abusing her children. The
investigation into Ms. Fontanez has been dropped.
Ms. Fontanez said she has contacted several authorities in the state
police and Worcester police to clear up what happened. She also has
retained Boston-based lawyer Nicole M. Procida, a former Essex
County prosecutor. Ms. Procida said she was hired to see if Trooper
Pires violated her client’s civil rights.
“I know that I didn’t do anything wrong. They can’t pull anything
out of anywhere because I didn’t do anything,” Ms. Fontanez said.
Contact Scott J. Croteau by e-mail at
scroteau@telegram.com.