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NEW BEDFORD — Last year, city employee Stephen Greany, a former New Bedford police officer turned maintenance worker, was charged with stealing city property. Police Chief Paul Oliveira led the investigation, which ended with a search of Greany’s home and a safe.
Detectives retrieved a gaming console, fire alarms, and light switches that police say belonged to the city, as well as drugs and firearm ammunition. Greany was fired and charged with four felonies, including drug and theft charges.
But more than a year later, the prosecution of Greany is in doubt, after a judge’s ruling that the chief and two detectives improperly searched the former narcotics officer’s house.
“It was personal,” John Seed, Greany’s attorney, told The Light. “My client was a former police officer a long time ago … read between the lines.”
Oliveira did not respond to a series of questions from The Light about his role in the investigation and search, and why the department did not obtain a search warrant, but a department spokesperson provided comment.
“Given that Mr. Greany was a city worker, three department heads, including the chief, were involved,” said Assistant Deputy Chief Scott Carola in an email. “Mr. Greany was also a former police officer many years ago. These combined factors made the situation unusual. Chief Oliveira stands ready to testify whenever called upon to do so by the court.”
A brief hearing took place Friday in New Bedford District Court, where attorneys set a date for December to again review the status of the case.
Greany’s case is effectively in limbo pending an appeal by the Bristol County District Attorney’s office in the state’s appeals court. The prosecution is seeking to overturn the judge’s order allowing the motion to suppress evidence.
This is not Greany’s first brush with the law. The 56-year-old New Bedford man worked as a city police officer in the 1980s and 1990s, including a stint in the narcotics division. 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 the current theft case, Seed argued in district court in December 2023 that New Bedford police had conducted an illegal search in March 2023. In January, the judge appeared to agree, allowing the defense’s motion to suppress the evidence that Oliveira and detectives obtained during the search.
“This court finds the information used to search the defendant and his property was lacking in detail,” reads a ruling from District Court Judge Sabine Coyne. “Chief Oliveira (who did not testify) called these officers stating defendant was suspected of stealing city property. The time frame and specifics … relied entirely on totem pole hearsay.” (A term in Massachusetts case law, “totem pole hearsay” means hearsay within hearsay.)
“The consent was not voluntary since the NBPD used the threat of seeking a search warrant if the defendant did not give consent,” Coyne continued. “Additionally, the NBPD exceeded the scope of the search by searching the safe.”
Per the police report and court records, Greany signed a consent-to-search form after he was approached in a library parking lot during his shift. At the time, he was working for the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management.
The signed form stated the detectives had Greany’s permission to take materials from his property that could be used as evidence in a criminal case, and that he provided this permission voluntarily and without threat.
The police did not have a search warrant, but told Greany they would seek to obtain one, according to the department’s narrative and officer testimony.
In an affidavit, Greany said he was “very anxious and nervous” when approached by Oliveira and the detectives, and that he did not “voluntarily consent” to a search of his home.
“What reasonable person thinks they have any other choice in that moment?” said Seed. “He’s taken in custody from his job back to his house.”
Greany was not handcuffed at any time, per officer testimony, but was read his Miranda rights.
Seed, in court, also successfully argued that the department’s search of Greany’s safe, which contained drugs, was beyond the scope of the search.
Greany did not provide comment.
Employment with city
Greany joined the police department in 1986 and went on to work in the narcotics division. He was terminated in 1999, when he was arrested and charged with bribery, extortion, witness tampering and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
He pleaded guilty that same year to charges that he shared the identity of an undercover police officer with a local drug dealer, in exchange for $3,500, in 1996.
Greany was convicted in 2000 of conspiracy, extortion and soliciting a bribe, and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
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.
The March 2023 arrest and search
According to testimony from the responding officers, Dets. Jonathan Lagoa and Timothy Soares (who work in narcotics and major crimes), 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.
Lagoa sat outside Greany’s home for surveillance, and saw Greany carry a dart board into his home before returning to work. 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 arrived and participated in the search.
Police found a Nintendo Wii gaming console and a dart board, which they say Greany stole from the Hazelwood Park Senior Center, and three fire alarms, which they say he stole from a city building on Hillman Street. They also found a bullet-resistant vest and smaller items, such as light switches and LED light bulbs, that he allegedly stole from the city.
The detectives asked Greany to open his combination safe under a desk, and say he did so after initially communicating he did not want to. In it, they found suboxone strips, a prescription medication used to treat opioid use disorder; alprazolam, which is a sedative known by its brand name, Xanax; and 10 vials of testosterone.
Elsewhere in the basement, police also said, they found over two pounds of marijuana, a box of ammunition, and a digital scale. In a smaller safe, they said they found more than $6,000, which the detectives seized as part of “narcotics proceeds.”
The department subsequently charged Greany with three misdemeanors and four felonies, including larceny and possession with intent to distribute. Regarding the city property, Greany 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.
Two felony charges of larceny from a building concern the stolen city property. Four charges, including one felony, regard narcotics. A misdemeanor charge involves possession of ammunition without a permit.
Some of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 2½ years in jail.
In court, Seed focused on Oliveira’s role, asking Soares and Lagoa how often they’ve searched a home with the police chief in their careers.
He also asked one officer if he was aware that Oliveira and Greany had worked together in the past. Oliveira started with the department in 1992 and also did a stint in the narcotics division.
Seed told The Light that he thought the chief’s involvement was the “most unique thing.”
“I’ve never seen, nor has any of these police officers, a chief of police involved in the beginning of a police report and then at the residence search,” Seed told the judge.
“Your inference is that he had an ax to grind, personal vendetta? Like, so what?” Judge Coyne responded.
“There’s more to this,” Seed responded. “Why is he singled out in terms of what’s going on here?” Seed suggested others might be stealing from the city, without offering evidence.
In an appeal letter, the prosecution stated it cannot try Greany without the evidence that is now suppressed under the judge’s order.
In response to questions and a request for comment, Bristol County DA spokesperson Gregg Miliote said by email that the case was argued in front of the appeals court, and the office now awaits the decision. Miliote deferred to the court filings for further information.
In its argument, the DA’s office highlights Greany’s past as a police officer to argue he was fully informed of his options and therefore did voluntarily consent to the search of his home.
“This is not Joe citizen off the street that’s never encountered the police before,” said Assistant District Attorney Maxwell Mitrokostas before the district court judge. “This is someone that actually did the job that Detective Soares, Sergeant Lagoa, and [Chief] Oliveira did, and is intimately familiar.”
The prosecution argued to the appeals court that Judge Coyne erred in her ruling and misapplied the law, stating “none of the reasons the motion judge offered for allowing the defendant’s motion to suppress withstands scrutiny.”
Greany’s counsel has a deadline of late October to file a brief in response to the DA’s argument to the appeals court. Seed said he expects the appeals case to proceed for at least another few months. The ruling there will determine whether the prosecution can continue with its case against Greany in district court.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.
New Bedford is so corrupt it’s insane. It’s like the Land Time Forgot and it’s forever 1922 in City Hall. Good job Mayor Mitchell!
Better than most cities.
No need to dig up old news about Greany. It was public knowledge and his family paid enough emotionally and do not need to go through this again . Don’t be the “Inquirer” and just stay current facts, if that’s what they are.
They did not pay enough. The man is a current convicted scum bag.
What a hit job this” rag of an article” truly is! A police chief showing up at someone’s house for a dartboard that was getting thrown out anyways? Sounds like absolutely bull and was the reason the judge threw it out. Please stick to legitimate news not bringing up old crap from years ago. I remember years back when Doherty was writing articles on people’s demise in New Bedford for the “sub-standard times”until he had a come to Jesus moment outside of freestones restaurant one day in downtown. Good ole new beige kicking people when they are down. Great news reporting stick to legitimate news.
The perp has a long history of being a scumbag.
The legitimate news is that this God Damn scumbag continues to be a common thief.