Now former Stoughton police officer voluntary decertifies after allegedly getting juvenile pregnant that was member of police program

A Massachusetts police officer has agreed to voluntarily decertify which bans him from being an officer in the state.

Matthew Farwell was employed as a police officer for the Stoughton Police Department beginning in March 2012. He resigned from that position on April 1, 2022. 

On July 1, 2021, Farwell was automatically certified as a police officer in Massachusetts. On October 10, 2022, the Commission denied the Stoughton Police Department’s application for recertification of Farwell. 

It is alleged that Farwell had a sexual relationship with a member of the Stoughton Police Explorers Program, Sandra Birchmore, beginning in 2013, when she was fifteen years old and when the Respondent was twenty-seven years old. Farwell allegedly subsequently pursued additional sexual encounters with Birchmore by various means, including by sending her text messages while on duty, as recently as 2020. It is further alleged that the sexual encounters between Farwell and Birchmore continued over an extended period, until just months before her death, when she was twenty-three years old. 

Additionally, it was alleged that Farwell was untruthful during the Massachusetts State Police’s investigation into the death of Birchmore, as he purportedly misrepresented the extent of his sexual encounters with her to investigators. 

In August 2022 the Stoughton Police Department sustained allegations that Farwell engaged in conduct unbecoming of an officer, was incompetent, was untruthful, and failed to display the proper attention and devotion to his duty.

On November 22, 2022, the Commission authorized the Division to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegations of misconduct against Farwell. On June 30, 2023, the Division submitted its report of preliminary inquiry to the Commission. Subsequently, on July 12, 2023, the Commission voted to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Farwell. 

On December 29th of 2022, Darlene Smith as the personal representative of the estate of Sandra Birchmore, filed a lawsuit against Matthew Farwell and former officers William Farwell and Robert Devine, the Town of Stoughton, and the Stoughton Police Department.

The lawsuit states that the complaint claims a grooming scheme and misconduct led to Birchmore’s death.

 Friends and family of Birchmore have found her death to be more suspicious despite reports listing her death as a suicide.