Ex-Woburn Cop’s White Supremacism Violated Department Policies, Police Say

A Woburn Police Department investigation has sustained allegations against a former officer accused of planning a white nationalist rally that erupted in deadly violence in 2017, the town's police chief and mayor announced Friday.

Officer John Donnelly resigned earlier this week amid the investigation into his part in the "Unite the Right" rally, in which members of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups carried weapons and chanted racist and antisemitic slogans. A woman was killed when a white nationalist drove into a crowd, injuring about 20 more people.

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Prosecutors are reviewing every case Donnelly was involved in and held a meeting of their anti-hate, anti-bias task force Thursday night on the importance of understanding the "threat of white supremacists’ strategic infiltration of law enforcement."

The Woburn police internal affairs investigation corroborated information first reported by the Huffington Post, that Donnelly helped plan, attended and gave leaders security at the "Unite the Right" rally while using the psuedonym Johnny O'Malley. He also used racist and antisemitic language and associated with the now-disbanded hate group Identity Evropa, police said.

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Donnelly's actions violated several rules, police said in a statement, "including policies governing Membership in Organizations, Outside Employment, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and Improper Associations, as well as violations of the Woburn Police Department Social Media Policy."

On the third anniversary of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., during which protester Heather Heyer was killed, a new Investigation Discovery special is giving survivors a voice to talk about how the incident has continued to affect them. Pamela Deutsch, the producer of "Impact of Hate: Charlottesville" joined LX News to discuss the special.

Donnelly, who is also a realtor in Woburn, hasn't responded to requests for comment from NBC10 Boston.

The officer was placed on leave after the article was released — when the mayor and police chief learned he participated in and planned the hate rally — and resigned Monday after refusing to be interviewed for the internal affairs investigation, police said.

The investigation's findings will be provided to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, along with the recommendation that Donnelly be de-certified, which would make him "ineligible to work as a police officer" in Massachusetts.

Donnelly was a reserve officer at the time of his alleged participation in the Charlottesville rally and became a full-time officer in August 2019.

An officer has resigned from the Woburn Police Department after allegations surfaced that he had an active role in the planning of the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.