Cabral is called target of US probe
Her grand jury testimony at issue
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral lied to a grand jury, according to two sources who have direct knowledge of the investigation.
The investigation is focusing on Cabral's testimony about the firing of a longtime nurse at the Suffolk County House of Correction who was an informant for the FBI and cooperating with the agency in a probe into inmate abuse at the jail. The sources spoke on the condition they not be identified.
Cabral testified before the grand jury that the nurse, Sheila J. Porter, was banned from working at the jail after she failed to file paperwork detailing a guard's alleged assault on an inmate, one of the sources said. But Porter testified before the grand jury that she was told she was being banned for talking to an ''outside agency" -- the FBI, the source said.
Federal prosecutors are considering whether to bring perjury or obstruction of justice charges against Cabral, the source said. An obstruction of justice charge can be brought if there is evidence she thwarted a federal investigation by retaliating against an employee.
Cabral declined to answer questions about the probe, but through a spokesman, released a statement saying, ''We have heard directly from the US attorney's office that no indictment is being pursued."
The statement said: ''It is deeply troubling that such rumors would be so recklessly disseminated to the press by anyone. Despite the improper motivations and highly inflammatory nature of this misinformation, further comment would be inappropriate."
After Cabral issued the statement, however, one of the sources told the Globe that the 20-month-old investigation is ongoing and that the decision on whether to bring charges against Cabral has yet to be made.
Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for Sullivan, said, ''We can neither confirm or deny that there's an investigation of Sheriff Cabral."
Cabral, 45, who took office in December 2002, was chosen by Governor Jane Swift to overhaul the Sheriff's Department, which faced allegations of abuse of inmates by jail guards under her predecessor, Richard J.
Two of the sources who spoke to the Globe said former Suffolk County district attorney Ralph C. Martin II has tried to intercede in the criminal investigation on Cabral's behalf. Martin, who supervised Cabral when she worked as a prosecutor in the district attorney's office, contacted Sullivan about the grand jury probe, they said.
Martin did not return telephone calls seeking comment. In the statement issued last night, however, Cabral's office said Martin had initially become involved in the case on behalf of an aide to Cabral, and ''since then, he has advocated on behalf of the department."
The federal grand jury began its investigation in September 2003, three months after Porter, 62, who worked for a private company that provided medical services at the jail, was fired. Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone to be retaliated against for cooperating with law enforcement authorities.
Last fall, Porter filed a $2 million federal lawsuit against Cabral, the Sheriff's Department, and her former employer, Correctional Medical Services Inc., a company based in Missouri. In the lawsuit, Porter said she was retaliated against for being an FBI informant. The lawsuit contends that Porter's civil rights were violated for exercising her First Amendment right of free speech and that Cabral violated the state law that protects whistle-blowers.
In its response to the lawsuit, lawyers for the Sheriff's Department denied the allegations. In the statement released last night, Cabral's office said Porter was barred from the jail for violating ''departmental policy and contractual obligations."
In the lawsuit, Porter said she had been providing information to the FBI since 1999 after an agent contacted her at home, and over four years she told them about alleged misconduct at the jail, including sexual and physical abuse of inmates by guards and drug dealing and drug use by personnel.
Porter said she was fired after she told the FBI that an inmate who had been cooperating with the FBI and had been wearing a wire at the agency's request, had been beaten by a guard and was in danger.
It is not clear exactly when the Sheriff's Department learned Porter was assisting the FBI.
Within days after she spoke to the FBI, however, Porter was called to meet with the Sheriff's Department special investigations unit, where she was quizzed about her contact with the FBI, according to the lawsuit. Porter said in the lawsuit that she was later summoned to meet with a deputy superintendent, who read from the employee code of conduct banning contact with any ''outside agency" and told her she was forever banned from the jail.
As a result, she was fired from CMS, she said.
Porter was not available for comment. Her lawyer, Joseph Savage, said, ''We're looking forward to having our day in court." The case is ongoing and scheduled for trial next fall.
Boston lawyer Alexandra Harvey, who represents CMS in the civil suit, said the company was forced to fire Porter after she was banned from the jail because it no longer had a job for her. She was rehired by the company October to work at the Essex County jail, then left that job in February, Harvey said.
''CMS played no role in the decision to bar her" from the Suffolk jail, said Harvey. Harvey described Porter as ''a very good nurse practitioner" and said her dismissal by CMS ''had only to do with the fact she was barred and nothing to do with her abilities."
The federal grand jury subpoenaed records from CMS in February.
Bringing charges against Cabral could bring political heat on Sullivan, a Republican and former state representative who has ambitions for higher office.
Last year's election victory by Cabral, a Cape Verdean and relative newcomer to politics, over longtime Boston City Councilor Stephen J. Murphy, was viewed as a sign of the changing demographics and the increasing clout of minority and female voters in Boston. Cabral's campaign attracted the backing of powerful Democrats, including US Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.
Sullivan is also pursuing a second high-profile investigation. The US attorney is investigating accusations that former House speaker Thomas M. Finneran allegedly perjured himself in a civil case involving redistricting. 