Former Woburn Police Officer Decertified By MA Post Commission

WOBURN, MA — A former Woburn police officer accused of taking part in the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, has been decertified by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and added to a national database of decertified officers, according to records released by the commission on Monday.

John Donnelly, who resigned from the Woburn Police Department last October, now appears on the POST Commission website under a section titled Commission Decisions and Orders.

According to the website, Donnelly entered into a Voluntary Decertification Agreement beginning on April 13, 2023, and a Decertification Order was issued on April 21, 2023.

"The Respondent John Donnelly has entered into a Voluntary Decertification Agreement under which he has agreed to the revocation of his certification as a law enforcement officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the entry of his decertification in the National Decertification Index," the commission wrote.

The Boston Herald reported that the Donnelly case represents the first time the POST Commission has decertified an officer under a 2020 police reform law that was passed in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

On Oct. 13, 2022, Woburn Police Chief Robert Rufo Jr. and Mayor Scott Galvin announced that Donnelly had been put on paid administrative leave while the department investigated Donnelly's involvement in the 2017 "Unite the Right" rally. Donnelly also was subject to an investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

The statement by Rufo and Galvin came just hours before HuffPost published a report looking into Donnelly, his background, and various links to the Charlottesville rally. The report was published under the headline "He Marched At The Nazi Rally In Charlottesville. Then He Went Back To Being A Cop."

Donnelly was a Woburn reserve officer at the time of the rally, officials said.

Donnelly resigned from the Woburn Police Department on Oct. 17, 2022, while officials still were conducting the investigation into his involvement in Charlottesville.

"There is no place for hate in Woburn or in the ranks of the Woburn Police Department," Galvin said at the time of Donnelly's resignation.

On Oct. 21, 2022, Rufo and Galvin announced the results of their investigation, which found that Donnelly was involved with extremist groups, which ultimately led to involvement with the "Unite the Right" rally.

According to officials, the investigation into Donnelly revealed that he went under the alias of "Johnny O'Malley" in person and online, and that he did "attend, help plan and provide security for leadership of the Charlottesville event."

Donnelly, officials said, was associated with the group Identity Evropa, which has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as a white supremacist group. Also, officials said that Donnelly used "racist and antisemitic language" and was seen in photographs and video recordings providing security in Charlottesville for white nationalist leader Richard Spencer, who was a prominent figure at the Charlottesville rally.

Rufo and Galvin also announced in 2022 that they would submit the results of the investigation to the state POST Commission, with the recommendation that Donnelly be decertified under the regulatory body's authority.

According to the Boston Herald, the POST Commission started a "preliminary inquiry" into the allegations against Donnelly on Nov. 22, 2022.