Aidan Kearney, the blogger behind the Massachusetts news brand Turtleboy, was arrested Wednesday on charges brought by a special prosecutor over actions taken in his intense campaign to uncover alleged corruption in an ongoing blockbuster murder case in Norfolk County.
A longtime presence in Massachusetts' news scene, Kearney has been reporting on the Karen Read case and rallying supporters who believe that Read, who is accused of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, is the subject of a coverup in the town of Canton.
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Kearney was arraigned in Stoughton District Court Wednesday on charges of intimidating a witness, juror, police or court official and conspiracy. The judge ordered he stay away and have no contact with the people who he's accused of intimidating, including the lead state police investigator on the case and a handful of people who were at the home where O'Keefe's body was found
Kearney was seen being led into court in handcuffs Wednesday morning ahead of his arraignment. Asked if he had anything to say about his arrest as he was taken into court, Kearney, wearing a "Free Karen Read" hooded sweatshirt, made a reference to a vehicle he's claimed was part of the coverup of O'Keefe's death.
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Read is accused of killing O'Keefe on Jan. 29, 2022, after a night out at the bar. Police said she ran him over with her SUV while dropping him off at a house party in Canton, after they had been arguing. Her attorneys have argued that someone else had to have killed O'Keefe and alleged a coverup.
The special prosecutors who brought the case read from transcripts of YouTube videos and articles that Kearney posted amid his "Canton Coverup" investigation, which as of Tuesday had 179 articles on his website. The prosecutors said that, on more than one occasion, Kearney said he was hoping his reporting would influence the jury pool for Read's eventual trial and that he broadcast himself calling the lead investigator, as well as the investigator's wife, sharing their phone numbers and leading to their harassment.
Kearney also allegedly had a civilian police dispatcher in Avon, Massachusetts, use the state's vehicle-lookup tool to share information about vehicles belonging to several people involved in the alleged harassment. The dispatcher was a reader of Kearney's blog, prosecutors said.
Avon police said in a statement Wednesday that a dispatcher was placed on paid administrative leave amid two investigations, the department's and one "being conducted by a special prosecutor under the Norfolk District Attorney's Office into alleged inappropriate and illegal use of law enforcement databases, which dispatchers have access to." It wasn't immediately clear if it was the same dispatcher who shared the information with Kearney; NBC10 Boston has reached out to ask if that dispatcher was being disciplined.
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A lawyer for Kearney said that the blogger considers himself "a news person" who is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
"He feels as if, that he should be allowed under his First Amendment right to pursue his story," the lawyer said, adding that being prevented from contacting the witnesses could lead to unlawful police interventions.
In ordering the conditions for Kearney's release, the judge noted that his direction not to have direct or indirect contact with the witnesses "is broad, and that is broad from my view on purpose." But the judge didn't grant prosecutors' request that Kearney submit $1,000 cash bail, releasing the blogger on his own personal recognizance, and didn't order he wear a GPS-tracking bracelet.
Kearney left court to applause from his supporters, and even after his arrest, he vowed not to change a thing.
"I will not be intimidated, I will not be silenced and we will continue on our journey," he said.
The charges he's facing are "very, very serious," NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said. The court has an obligation to protect witnesses — and prosecutors could be looking to turn down the heat on the intense attention Read's trial has attracted.
That intense attention has bled into proceedings, prompting prosecutors to seek a gag order for Read's defense attorneys — it was denied — and District Attorney Michael Morrisey in August to release a rare statement out of court slamming "harassment of witnesses," including people who would later be named in the charges against Kearney.
"The bottom line is that free speech isn't always free," Coyne said. "We don't get to make threats without the potential risk and exposure to criminal charges."
Prosecutors have stringently denied any coverup has taken place in the investigation into O'Keefe's death.
Kearney has sat in the courtroom for many of the recent hearings and spoken to the growing rallies in Read's support that have taken place outside.
Kearney has pursued other causes on his websites, writing repeatedly in his characteristically caustic style about former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts and Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, longtime local activist Monica Cannon-Grant and others, as well as churning up information, usually through social media, on less-public figures for alleged wrongdoing.
His current website describes him as a "teacher turned blogger battles big tech censorship, threats, and political correctness to protect free speech and democracy."
In 2021, Kearney ran unsuccessfully for the Wachusett Regional School Committee. Among the issues he ran on was ending mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic and teaching based on race.
