Statement of Lisa Allen

October 20, 2010 - Boston.com

I cannot stand by silently any longer while what happened to me is discussed in the press. It upsets me that Jeff Perry can run for Congress after what he did to me when I was fourteen years old.

Jeff Perry was nearby when Scott Flanagan illegally strip searched me. Perry knew what Flanagan did, he had to hear me screaming and crying. Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened. Even after Scott Flanagan admitted the truth under oath and pled guilty, Perry never apologized for allowing Flanagan to abuse me. Now he has said he would not do anything differently if he had the chance.

Perry did not care about protecting teen-aged girls in Wareham from police officer Flanagan. Jeff Perry cared only about protecting police officer Flanagan.

Chief Joyce now says Jeff Perry was a good cop. Neither Chief Joyce nor Sgt. Perry were good cops. Chief Joyce refused to investigate when my mother complained about what Flanagan did to me. Like Perry, Chief Joyce protected police officer Flanagan instead of protecting teen-aged girls from police officer Flanagan.

Jeff Perry was not an honest police sergeant; he should not be in a position of power

Victim Of Illegal Strip Search Publicly Castigates GOP Candidate

Brian Beutler | October 20, 2010, 3:00PM

A woman who was assaulted as a teenager by a police officer under the supervision of a current Republican Massachusetts House candidate is speaking out.

''He had to hear me screaming and crying. Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened,'' said Lisa Allen, in a statement to the Boston Globe.

Perry is the GOP hopeful in Massachusetts' 10th Congressional District. Almost 20 years ago, an officer under his command named Scott Flanagan confessed to and was convicted of assaulting Allen and another girl. Perry initially denied that any assault occurred, but thereafter quickly disappeared from the force.

"Perry did not care about protecting teenaged girls in Wareham from police officer Flanagan,'' Allen said. ''Jeff Perry cared only about protecting police officer Flanagan.''

''I cannot stand by silently any longer while what happened to me is discussed in the press,'' Allen added. ''It upsets me that Jeff Perry can run for Congress after what he did to me when I was 14 years old.''
Perry demurred when the Globe asked for comment, saying only that he sympathized with Allen for her suffering.

''What happened to Lisa Allen was wrong and should never happen to anyone,'' Perry said in a statement. ''Scott Flanagan's actions were despicable and a betrayal of the oath he took as a police officer. My heart goes out to Ms. Allen for what she was put through by Scott Flanagan that night.''

The incident has become a major campaign issue, and the source of one of the most brutal ads of the 2010 cycle.

Allen's father is quoted in the ad, urging Perry to skip town. Perry's running against Democrat Bill Keating to fill a seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Delahunt.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/victim-of-illegal-strip-search-publicly-castigates-gop-candidate.php  

Jeff Perry, GOP House Candidate, Haunted By Allegations That He Ignored Illegal Strip Search Of Teenage Girls

The Huffington Post   |  Nick Wing Posted: 10-23-10 12:17 PM 
 

Jeff Perry, a Republican congressional candidate in Massachusetts, is facing a wave of criticism over allegations that he oversaw and ignored illegal strip-searches of teenage girls while serving as a police sergeant in Wareham, Massachusetts.

According to the Boston Globe:

Scott Flanagan, the officer who conducted the strip search and a similar assault on a different girl in 1992, admitted to the crimes and was convicted in 1993 of civil rights violations and indecent assault of a child. But Perry initially said that he was in a position to see and hear everything that happened that night and that the assault never occurred.

The matter intensified this week when one of the victims released a public statement denouncing the U.S. House hopeful and his version of the story.

Lisa Allen, the woman who was 14 years old in 1991 when she was assaulted by Flanagan, had this to say about the incident:

"Perry knew what Flanagan did, he had to hear me screaming and crying," Allen wrote. "Instead of helping me, Jeff Perry denied anything happened."

Perry, now running as a GOP candidate in the 10th Congressional District of Massachusetts, recently claimed that had no knowledge of the searches when they took place.

"I didn't know they were happening. If I did I would have put handcuffs on him and locked him up myself," Perry said.

Perry is facing off against Democrat Bill Keating for the seat of retiring incumbent Rep. William Delahunt (D). The opening was thought by Republicans to be ripe for a pick up, but the latest flurry of details on the incident could put a damper on Perry's momentum.

According to the New York Times:

Mr. Perry was approximately 15 feet away when Mr. Flanagan ordered Ms. Allen, then 14 years old, to lift her bra and unbutton her pants as he searched her for marijuana, according to a police investigation of the incident and a transcript of Mr. Flanagan's guilty plea.

A radio ad describing the matter was recently pulled from Massachusetts airwaves over concerns over its content, but the renewed focus on the matter could provide the DCCC with further incentive to run a devastating attack ad that it had aired against Perry earlier this month.

Despite the nature of the controversy, Massachusetts Republicans are standing by Perry. The campaign of Charlie Baker, the GOP candidate for governor, recently told reporters that Perry had effectively explained the 20-year old affair. Sen. Scott Brown (R) also has cut a radio ad defending the House candidate and condemning Keating for mounting a negative campaign against him.