Former Romney aide faces no charges

DA clears him of imitating trooper

Jay Garrity quit Romney's campaign in July 2007.

Jay Garrity, the former operations director for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign who resigned in July amid allegations he repeatedly impersonated police officers, will not be charged in connection with a phone call to a Wilmington sewer-cleaning company from someone calling himself a state trooper.

"We have no plans to charge Mr. Garrity," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley. "While the investigation does remain open, at this stage of the investigation, evidence consistently points away from Mr. Garrity."

Garrity was identified in June 2007 as the focus of a State Police investigation into a call made to Wayne's Drains of Wilmington. A man calling himself "Trooper Garrity of the Massachusetts State Police" threatened in a voice mail to issue a citation against the driver of a Wayne's Drains van that the caller said was speeding and cutting off cars in the Ted Williams Tunnel. Published reports, which Garrity and his lawyer denied, said the cellphone number from which the call was placed was traced to Garrity.

Wark said "investigators have reviewed various phone records, financial transactions, and other documents" that led them to conclude Garrity should not face charges. He declined to elaborate. Wark stressed that "Mr. Garrity was neither charged nor named as a suspect in the investigation."

Garrity was also investigated but never charged by the New Hampshire attorney general's office after a New York Times reporter said Garrity waved him to the side of the road last June, ordered him to stop following Romney's motorcade, and said, in the manner of a policeman making a traffic stop, he had run the reporter's license plate number.

In 2004, Boston police issued Garrity a citation for driving a Crown Victoria that lacked a special state permit for police gear that included a siren, red and blue grille lights, and public address system. The Boston Herald reported extensively about how Garrity and other Romney campaign staff - all known for wearing Secret Service-style radio earpieces and wrist microphones - allegedly used police-badge-like metal discs embossed with a governor's office seal. Flashing a fake badge is a crime punishable in Massachusetts by a $50 fine.

In a statement issued last evening by his spokeswoman, Nancy Sterling, Garrity said: "I am grateful to have the last sensational allegation against me proven wrong and to have my reputation restored. I appreciate the support of friends and political adversaries alike who know my good character. I have always worked with honor and integrity, and it was never my intention to be disrespectful to anyone."

Garrity's attorney, Boston criminal defense lawyer R. Robert Popeo, lamented that "Jay paid a heavy price" during the months the Wayne's Drains call allegations hung over him. "Fortunately, with his good name restored, Jay can now move forward with his life and career," Popeo said.

Dot Barme, manager of Wayne's Drains, said after seeing footage of the 29-year-old Garrity on television last year that she was not surprised to hear the district attorney has no plans to bring charges. "The voice definitely does not match [Garrity's] face. This definitely to me sounds like an older gentleman," said Barme, who kept the voice mail recording.

"I hope they find out who it was," Barme said. "That's really not right to impersonate a police officer."

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom did not respond to a request for comment.

When Garrity stepped down from the campaign, Romney called him "a good guy" and said, "I give him the benefit of the doubt" about the allegations of police impersonation.