By Steve Landwehr
SALEM — Prosecutors this Monday handed over six computer discs containing potential evidence in the case against former Hamilton police Chief Water Cullen and three others for their roles in a wide-ranging scam of state medical training records.
Cullen, former Middleton and Ipswich fire Chief Henry Michalski, former Wenham police officer and three-term Ipswich Selectman Jim Foley, and former Hamilton police officer David Mastrianni, Cullen's son-in-law, were back in Salem Superior Court yesterday morning for a second pretrial conference hearing before Justice Timothy Feeley.
Foley's attorney, Donald Stern, taking the lead for the other defendants' lawyers, said the sheer volume of evidence was "enormous," some 30,000 documents besides the computer discs. The defendants therefore required another continuation of the case, Stern said.
Feeley agreed and set March 17 for the next pretrial conference.
The four were indicted this summer on a range of charges related to falsifying state medical training records.
Cullen is charged with two counts of violating state emergency medical service training laws and with larceny and fraud for collecting a salary that was based in part on his representations that he was qualified to act as director of the town's ambulance and emergency medical services.
Prosecutors allege Mastrianni repeatedly submitted false statements about class attendance in filings with the Department of Public Health.
Michalski, who was the training coordinator for Lyons Ambulance before the records fraud allegations came to light, also faces more serious charges of not only falsifying training records, but also lying to a grand jury about it.
Foley was indicted on a charge of attempted obstruction of justice and violating EMS rules.
