Former officer found ‘non-credible’ in 2021 Birchmore probe still certified

When a Massachusetts police officer is accused of not being credible or behavior that results in discipline, their supervisors are required to report them to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST), the state agency that certifies and tracks law enforcement misconduct.

25 Investigates found that no reports were submitted to POST about former Abington School Resource Officer Josh Heal after then Chief David Del Papa was told that Heal was found to be “not credible” in a 2021 internal affairs probe Stoughton Police conducted into the relationships Sandra Birchmore had with multiple police officers.

25 Investigates first reported on Heal last week after obtaining an audio recording of Del Papa in an official interview with a town attorney and an outside investigator asked to review Del Papa’s handling of Heal. Abington’s investigation found Del Papa to be professional and diligent and a redacted report states that Del Papa, “was challenged throughout the entire SPD (Stoughton Police Department) investigation, receiving limited information from… SPD, specific to Heal.”

In the recording, Del Papa states that then Stoughton Deputy Police Chief Brian Holmes told him he, “found Josh (Heal) to be not credible because Josh denied having a sexual relationship with Birchmore during the first interview but had changed his answer in the second interview.”

In a strongly worded email, Heal’s Duxbury based attorney Peter S. Farrell told 25 Investigates Heal, “will take all appropriate legal action if you insinuate that he (Josh Heal) is not credible.”

Heal met Birchmore in his previous role as a Stoughton Animal Control Officer when she was a young adult. In December 2021, Holmes told Del Papa that he wanted to speak with Heal as a “witness” about text messages on Birchmore’s cell phone after she was found dead in her Canton Apartment in February 2021.

State Police assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office initially ruled Birchmore’s death a suicide. In August, federal authorities charged former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell with murdering Birchmore and staging her death to look like she hung herself. Matthew Farwell first met Birchmore when she was a 13-year-old participant in Stoughton’s Police Explorer Program, which teaches young people about jobs in law enforcement.

At the end of Stoughton’s 9-month probe, Del Papa said in the recording that Holmes told him Heal, “was sexting all day while he’s at work” and “had exchanged a cat for oral sex” from Birchmore. Del Papa placed Heal on leave in September 2022 at the conclusion of Stoughton’s internal affairs investigation.

Stoughton Police found 3 of its officers had troubling relationships with Birchmore. Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William, and Robert Devine have all been decertified by POST. “A decertified officer cannot work for a law enforcement agency in any capacity and their name is added to the National Decertification Index,” according to POST’s website.

Heal no longer works as a police officer but remains certified by POST through July 2025. A POST spokesperson said Heal’s record with the agency was updated in November 2023, to include “resigned in lieu of discipline” and POST, “cannot comment on whether a case has been opened or on any cases that may be pending.”

Attorney Peter S. Farrell wrote, “Mr. Heal remains certified to serve as a police officer by the POST Commission and POST has taken no adverse action against him nor has any law enforcement agency sought to decertify his licensure with the POST Commission. You are hereby ordered to cease and desist from publishing or reporting any further self-serving, speculative and defamatory commentary and opinions regarding my client.”

Former Abington Police Chief David Del Papa could not immediately be reached for comment.

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