Former Bourne official’s suit over alleged spying settles

In brief

• Former Bourne Board of Health chair settled his lawsuit against three town officials, and the case was dismissed with prejudice.
• The lawsuit alleged officials secretly recorded a private meeting without Andrews’ consent and violated privacy laws.
• A personal cellphone allegedly used in the recording was traded in after preservation was requested, leaving it unavailable as evidence.

The lawyer for a former Bourne health board member who sued three top town officials alleging they spied on him said his client is satisfied with a settlement that ended the case.

Former Board of Health Chair Stanley D. Andrews initially filed the lawsuit on July 31, 2023, against Town Administrator Marlene McCollem, Human Resources Director Elise J. Zarcaro and Select Board member Peter J. Meier, who was board chair at the time.

Andrews claimed the officials conspired in a plan “to spy on and surreptitiously record” him in a private meeting with McCollem on Jan. 11, 2023, involving his request for legal services.

On July 8 in Barnstable Superior Court, Andrews, McCollem, Zarcaro and Meier filed a document stipulating that all agree to dismiss the case “with prejudice and without interest, costs, expenses or attorney fees to any party.” They also waived right of appeal, the court record stated.

Andrews’ attorney Thomas J. Wynn of Raynham said on July 21 that his client “was very satisfied with the settlement.” Asked by the Cape Cod Times how much money was involved, Wynn said he could not divulge the amount.

“We made every effort to mediate after years of litigation, discovery and reports obtained,” Wynn said. “The court tried to get it resolved.” He stressed that Andrews did not sue the town, but the three officials as private citizens.

The allegations

Andrews’ allegations included illegal use of an electronic device by a private person under state law, interfering with his right to privacy, and conspiracy to spy for “political purposes.”

Andrews claimed that Zarcaro illegally recorded the meeting with her cellphone while sitting near a cracked open door from an adjoining darkened office.

All the defendants, who had legal representation, challenged Andrews’ claims.

As a witness to the incident, town custodian Matthew Rose initially reported to Meier that he saw Zarcaro using her cellphone in the room when he entered to empty the trash and she waved at him to go away and be quiet. Meier “allegedly investigated the incident,” but took no action, Andrews alleges in the court record.

Mary Jane Mastrangelo, who replaced Meier as Select Board chair that May, and Select Board member Melissa Ferretti told the Cape Cod Times in August 2023 that Meier never gave Rose’s statement to the entire board at the time of the alleged incident.

McCollem subsequently suspended Rose without pay for 15 days suspension for not following official town procedure in reporting alleged governmental infractions, according to previous reporting by the Cape Cod Times.

During a Bourne Police investigation of the incident in July 2023, McCollem said Meier directed her several times to have someone listen to the Jan. 11 meeting with Andrews. In the police report, McCollem also said there were contentious issues between Andrews and a town employee, which was the reason Meier gave her that directive. The town employee was not named in the police or court record.

Personal cellphone traded in

Part of the case also hinged on the fact that Zarcaro traded in her personal cell phone that she allegedly used to record the meeting shortly after Andrews’ lawyer advised her not to destroy it, according to the court accounts. The phone was then not available as evidence.

The lawsuit concluded that McCollem and Meier directed Zarcaro to secretly record the Jan. 11 meeting without his consent and that they intended to use the information from the meeting for “political purposes.” The case did not specify what the political purposes were.

As a result of the incident, Andrews resigned from the Board of Health as well as several other town committees about a month later. The court record stated he had been active on town committees since 2008, had participated in town meetings, and served the community his entire life, and that he had lost his “sense of community in Bourne.”

Defendants Zarcaro and Meier did not return calls for comments on the settlement and McCollem was not available. Their attorney, Cole S. Fahrenkopf of Boston, also was not available for comment.

Town Counsel Bryan Bertram said he could not comment on the case.

Reporting by Susan Vaughn, Cape Cod Times / Cape Cod Times

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect