Woburn Cop Resigns Amid Investigation Into Charlottesville Rally Ties

WOBURN, MA — Police officer John Donnelly resigned his job with the Woburn Police on Monday a matter of days after police announced an investigation into allegations that Donnelly participated in and helped plan the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin and Police Chief Robert Rufo Jr. announced Donnelly’s resignation on Monday afternoon, confirming that Donnelly was no longer employed by the Woburn Police Department.

"There is no place for hate in Woburn or in the ranks of the Woburn Police Department," Galvin said.

“The City of Woburn stands together in its opposition to hate and violence, and we will emerge stronger as a community," he continued.

Galvin and Rufo previously said on Thursday of last week that Donnelly had been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation after Rufo learned about Donnelly’s possible involvement in the Charlottesville rally five years ago. The rally took place when Donnelly was a reserve officer with the department.

HuffPost published a lengthy report hours later on Thursday detailing Donnelly’s alleged ties to the rally and its key organizers including Richard Spencer, who the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “one of the country’s most successful young white nationalist leaders.”

The Charlottesville rally spanned multiple days and left dozens injured after counter protesters clashed with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups who initially gathered to protest the removal of a Confederate statue.

One person was killed and several were injured when a man rammed his car into a crowd of counter protesters. Two state troopers died when a helicopter monitoring the events in Charlottesville crashed.

Galvin and Rufo said this week that Donnelly submitted a letter of resignation to take effect at 5 p.m. on Monday.

The letter, viewed on Monday via a public records request, did not go into detail on the current situation, simply indicating that Donnelly was resigning.

The investigation into Donnelly will continue, officials said. Rufo said he will then report findings to Galvin and the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.

"A thorough finding of fact is necessary in this situation," Rufo said.

Galvin said last week that he would move to terminate Donnelly if allegations proved true. Rufo added that he would ask the state training commission to decertify Donnelly in that case, effectively banning him from serving in other law enforcement roles in Massachusetts.

"For decades, police chiefs across the commonwealth have called for a statewide certification process to ensure that allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated, and bad actors are held accountable,” Rufo said on Monday. “That will be our focus moving forward. The men and women of the Woburn Police Department are united in disavowing hate in all its forms."

As Woburn completes its investigation, the Middlesex County District Attorney office is separately looking into all its cases linked to Donnelly.

“We are acutely aware of the way in which these allegations tear at the fabric of trust which exists between communities and the police departments which serve them,” District Attorney Marian Ryan said last week.