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The state Appeals Court has allowed the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office to move forward with its prosecution of a former city employee charged in 2023 with theft of city property — reversing the decision of a New Bedford judge.
In late 2023, a judge ruled that now-retired Police Chief Paul Oliveira and two detectives improperly searched the home of Stephen Greany, who argued he did not voluntarily consent to the search.
Greany was most recently employed as a maintenance worker for the city, but worked with Oliveira many years earlier: both were employed by the New Bedford Police Department in the 1990s, and both did stints in the narcotics division.
It’s this overlap, Greany’s attorneys argued to the judge and Appeals Court justices, and Oliveira’s position as chief in 2023, that made any power imbalance more pronounced when Greany was asked to consent to a search. (Greany ultimately signed a consent form before the search was conducted.)
“We recognize that the judge is in the best position to assess the weight and credibility of the testimony given at the motion hearing. However, the evidence did not support the judge’s finding that the defendant was threatened, or, more importantly, that the defendant, a former police officer, was coerced to provide consent based on any threat,” the three-justice panel wrote in its 11-page order.
“Although the defendant and the chief worked as police officers around the same time and may have known each other, the evidence suggests nothing else, good or bad, about their relationship,” the order continued. “In signing the consent to search form, the defendant acknowledged that he was not subjected to threats of any kind.”
Oliveira led the March 2023 investigation. The Police Department in its reports alleged Greany stole a gaming console, fire alarms, and light switches from the city, and was in possession of drugs and firearm ammunition.
Greany had told police the items were otherwise set to be thrown away, and that he had planned to sell them on eBay. Police assessed some of the stolen items to be about $500 in total.
Greany was fired and charged with four felonies, including drug possession with intent to distribute and larceny.
But the charges fell into limbo when the District Court judge allowed Greany’s motion to suppress the evidence that Oliveira and detectives obtained. Without that evidence, prosecutors would not be able to move forward with the case. Now, with the Appeals Court ruling, they can.
In an email statement, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said he was “pleased” with the higher court’s ruling “that supported our position that the evidence should not be suppressed.”
The September ruling comes nearly four months after the parties argued their cases before the three justices.
Benjamin Brooks, one of Greany’s attorneys, in a statement said the justices’ decision is “troubling because it validates the police tactic of relying on a show of force and intimidation to secure ‘consent’ to conduct a search, when the grounds for the search are in fact dubious.”
Brooks and John Seed, Greany’s attorney for the criminal case in District Court, said they are reviewing the Appeals Court decision “and potential next steps,” including a motion to reconsider or application for further appellate review.
This is not Greany’s first criminal charge. He was arrested in 1999 for disclosing the identity of an undercover officer to a drug dealer in exchange for $3,500. He pleaded guilty and served at least eight years in federal prison until his release in 2009.
In 2019, a decade after he left federal prison, Greany was hired again by the city, this time as a parks maintenance worker.
The mayor’s office previously said the mayor did not learn of Greany’s background until the Police Department began investigating him for thefts of city property.
According to testimony from the responding officers, Oliveira called them the day of the search in March 2023 and told them he heard from a department head that Greany was stealing city property.
One officer sat outside Greany’s home for surveillance, and saw Greany carry a dart board into his home before returning to work, according to police reports. Shortly after, the detectives and Oliveira, wearing plainclothes, approached Greany while he was working outside at the Howland Green Library.
The detectives in an unmarked cruiser took Greany back to his home and followed him into the basement, where bags containing city property were lying on the floor, per police and court records. Oliveira then arrived and participated in the search.
Some of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 2½ years in jail.
Greany’s next hearing in New Bedford District Court is scheduled for Oct. 22.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
The cops went to Mr Greany’s home on theft charges. Theft of property that was being thrown out by the city not for drugs. Illegal search even though he signed a paper allowing the police to search for city property. Not for drugs. A Judge that realizes THAT IT IS THE FRUIT OF THE POISON TREE WILL SAY NO TO THE DRUGS AND CITY PROPERTY THEFT OF THROWN OUT ITEMS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME. WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. NOT TO MENTION THAT HE LOST HIS JOB PUNISHMENT ENOUGH.
Michael, my comments are sensored too. They don’t handle the truth well.