Former Methuen police chief pleads guilty to 17 charges, will serve 30 days in jail

Former Methuen, Massachusetts, police chief Joseph Solomon pleaded guilty to the 17 charges read against him including perjury and fraud on Friday inside Essex Superior Court. The 65-year-old was sentenced to two and a half years in the House of Corrections, 30 days to serve, and the balance suspended for three years.

"This gives certainty and finality for the cloud that has hung over not only the Methuen Police Department, but the entire community," said Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker. "That ends today."

Prosecutors say he misused his position as chief to appoint unqualified police officers and tried to cover up the lack of qualifications. Solomon, whose salary was $183,000 a year, will also forfeit his city pension, his license to carry a firearm, and his private investigator's license.

"This notion of 30 days served in my opinion is an outrage. However, we are at a place where we are achieving accountability for the crimes that have been committed," said Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard. "I will say, regarding the pension, as I stated previously, this is anticipated to save the city millions of dollars."

This all dates back to 2015, when Solomon was Methuen's police chief. Prosecutors say he repeatedly used his position to undermine the law for his own benefit including hiring six part-time officers and then appointing them to full-time department roles.

"The defendant gave these full-time intermittent positions to persons with family and political connections, to employees of the defendant's personal business," a prosecutor said.

Solomon pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury by written affidavit, seven counts of obtaining unwarranted privileges in violation of civil service laws, six counts of civil service law violations, uttering a forged document, and procurement fraud.

Solomon was police chief from 2002 to 2021. On Friday, his family left the courthouse without saying a word.

"This closes a very dark chapter in the history of the Methuen Police Department," said acting Methuen Police Chief James Moore.

The city plans to use every legal avenue possible to try and recover the $1 million in funds already paid out to Solomon from his pension, but gave no indication how long that would take.