Editor’s note: In June 2023, independent journalist Andrew Quemere sued the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office over its refusal to release records of officers credibly accused of misconduct or crimes. In December, nearly four years after Quemere first requested those records, a judge ordered District Attorney David Sullivan — the top law enforcement official in Hampshire and Franklin counties — to release its “Brady” disclosures, as they’re known.
This article is the first in an ongoing series investigating those records and the misconduct allegations they reveal. The series is being co-published by The Shoestring and The Mass Dump, Quemere’s website.
A retired Granby police lieutenant entered into an agreement with the state’s police oversight board on July 16 to never again work in law enforcement after he allegedly paid a subordinate officer and a dispatcher to complete his college coursework for him, made sexually explicit comments in front of subordinate officers and department employees, and used his truck to intimidate an officer who filed a complaint against him.
An outside investigation found that the former lieutenant, Gary Poehler, boosted his pay by obtaining two degrees after having police department employees write papers and take exams for him, records say.
In light of the investigation’s findings, the police department sustained an allegation of “conduct unbecoming” for “cheating in pursuit of academic degrees and receiving compensation for those degrees,” according to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission’s online disciplinary database. The department also sustained an allegation of a “non-minor policy violation,” finding that Poehler “abused his position as a lieutenant” by asking the employees to complete his schoolwork, the database says.
Poehler was employed by the department from May 1, 2000, until May 1, 2025, according to the POST Commission agreement. The POST Commission database lists him as leaving the department “in lieu of discipline.”
Granby Police Chief Kevin O’Grady and an attorney for Poehler did not respond to requests for comment.
Before Poehler signed the agreement with the POST Commission, the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office named him in a misconduct disclosure describing the alleged behavior uncovered by the investigation. Prosecutors are required to provide criminal defendants with “Brady” disclosures — named after a 1963 US Supreme Court decision — about alleged misconduct by officers testifying against them so that defendants can challenge the officers’ credibility in court.
Northwestern prosecutors refused to publicly release their tranche of Brady disclosures without blacking out the officers’ names until The Mass Dump filed a public records lawsuit in June 2023. Prosecutors agreed to release unredacted Brady disclosures about alleged non-criminal misconduct in May 2024 after a ruling in another lawsuit involving the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Northwestern prosecutors released unredacted disclosures about alleged criminal misconduct in March, after a judge sided with The Mass Dump in its lawsuit.
At a May 22 conference before the POST Commission, an attorney for Poehler said that it was the former lieutenant’s preference to go back into law enforcement, which he is now permanently barred from doing.
The agreement Poehler signed with the POST Commission means that he can no longer apply for law-enforcement certification in Massachusetts or employment with a police department, sheriff’s office, or the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Entering into the agreement allowed Poehler to avoid a multi-day, trial-like hearing before the POST Commission and did not require him to admit wrongdoing.
“The [POST] Commission determined that public interest is best served through the disposition and the agreed-upon terms and conditions,” an agency spokesperson said.
Between May 2017 and June 2020, Poehler was a part-time student at Springfield Technical and Community College and Westfield State University, according to the POST Commission agreement. At the time, Poehler paid a Granby police officer and a dispatcher to complete his coursework and submitted it as his own work, the document alleges.
The police department also sustained a finding from the outside investigation that Poehler engaged in harassment by sharing “inappropriate and offensive sexual stories/comments … [with] other officers,” according to the POST Commission database. Poehler allegedly made the comments between 2016 and 2020, the POST Commission agreement says.
The outside investigation found that while Poehler was on duty, he “repeatedly made sexually inappropriate comments to and about women and created a hostile work environment by openly boasting about his sexual exploits,” according to the Brady disclosure.
The POST Commission agreement also cites two May 2025 incidents in which Poehler, shortly after he had retired from the department, allegedly used his truck to intimidate an officer whom he knew to be “one of several individuals who had filed a complaint against him.”
Police records show that these incidents were investigated internally by Granby Police Sgt. Stephen Marion. The officer who accused Poehler of trying to intimidate him “expressed concerns regarding potential retaliation from Mr. Poehler, as he was involved in the internal investigation that ultimately led to Mr. Poehler’s retirement from the Granby Police Department,” according to Marion’s report from May 19, 2025.
The officer described the incidents of alleged intimidation in two written complaints released by the police department in response to a public records request.
The officer, a sergeant whose name the department redacted, said that on May 3, 2025, he was in his personal truck, following a National Grid vehicle to a work site where he was to direct traffic. While the officer was waiting to take a left turn, he observed Poehler drive past him in the opposite direction, the complaint says.
“Upon noticing me, [Lt.] Poehler suddenly veered across marked lanes and got very close to my truck with his truck,” the sergeant wrote. “As he passed by me, [Lt.] Poehler stared me down, and pointed his finger directly towards me the entire time he drove past me.”
Marion said in his report that the sergeant provided dashboard-camera video that “corroborated his account, clearly showing Mr. Poehler’s vehicle, his proximity to [redacted] vehicle, and his facial expressions and gestures.”
In a second complaint, the sergeant said that on the night of May 7, 2025, he was in his police cruiser writing a ticket while conducting a traffic stop when he observed a vehicle turn and drive past him at a high rate of speed.
“The vehicle squealed its tires as it made the turn and accelerated,” the sergeant wrote. “As the vehicle approached me, the operator turned on their high beams in what I assume was an attempt to blind me. … The vehicle continued to accelerate at a high rate of speed as it passed by my cruiser.”
The sergeant said he was able to observe the license plate’s vanity number, which showed the vehicle was registered to Poehler.
According to Marion’s report, “Mr. Poehler admitted to the interaction on May 3 and confirmed that he was the driver during the May 7 incident, though he claimed he believed the officer at the scene was someone else. He emphasized that he did not intend to cause fear or harassment and expressed a desire to move forward peacefully.”
O’Grady, the police chief, notified the district attorney’s office about the two incidents, and the office “advised [the department] to continue monitoring and follow up should any additional issues arise,” Marion said in his report.
Asked whether prosecutors are investigating the allegations against Poehler, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said, “We cannot confirm, deny, or comment on the status of any such investigation.”
The district attorney’s office prepared a Brady disclosure about Poehler’s alleged misconduct to provide to defense attorneys, according to a copy of the document. The disclosure is an undated template that was created prior to March 31, when the district attorney’s office made it public. It’s unclear whether prosecutors disclosed it to defendants in any criminal cases.
“We are not aware of any criminal prosecutions that have been negatively impacted,” the DA’s spokesperson said.
Read more from Andrew Quemere at The Mass Dump.
Andrew Quemere is an independent investigative journalist from the Greater Boston area who writes about topics like wrongful convictions, police misconduct, and access to public records. He is the author of The Mass Dump newsletter.
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