Suit: Worcester Cop's Falsehood Sent Man To Jail For 1,000 Days

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester man spent over 1,000 days in jail on a drug charge based on a city police officer's "false testimony," a new lawsuit says. The man is now suing the city and the officer in federal court, asserting that his civil rights were violated, among other claims.

The suit claims that Worcester officer Michael McKiernan searched Carlos Alvarez's phone without a warrant and later lied about it during court proceedings. Alvarez was sentenced in January 2017 to 3 1/2 years in prison for drug distribution; he served 1,111 days of the sentence until Worcester County prosecutors dropped the charge in November.

McKiernan, a captain with Worcester police, was a 2018 graduate of the FBI National Academy Program for "selected officers having proven records as professionals within their agencies." He was also one of the highest-paid employees in Worcester in 2018, earning close to $200,000.

The suit stems from a January 2014 incident along Main Street in downtown Worcester. McKiernan was watching two people parked in the Compare Foods parking lot when he saw Alvarez approach. He got out of his police cruiser to prevent what he believed to be a pending drug sale, the suit says.

Alvarez ran from McKiernan, but was "intercepted and tackled" by another officer, Joseph Tolson. Tolson also hit Alvarez in the leg with either a baton or flashlight, the suit says.

When Tolson and McKiernan picked Alvarez up off the ground, a bag of suspected crack cocaine fell out of his pocket. It turned out to be about 0.13 grams of cocaine, according to court records. The officers also took $130 and a cell phone from Alvarez.

McKiernan later wrote in a police report that he saw a text message "pop up" on Alvarez's phone saying, "N--ga I need some s--t," which McKiernan interpreted as someone asking for drugs.

"I did not access the cell phone and I do not know what the number is," McKiernan wrote in a 2014 criminal complaint, according to court documents. "Based on Alvarez’s behavior, the denominations and location of his money, the recovered drugs and the message on his phone, Alvarez is being charged with unlawful possession of a class B substance (crack cocaine) with intent to distribute, resisting arrest, and trespassing."

McKiernan said the same thing to a grand jury in January 2015, leading to Alvarez's indictment on drug charges.

In October 2015, Alvarez asked a judge to suppress the evidence about the text message, claiming the search of his phone — a Kyocera Coast — was illegal because it's not capable of showing texts on the front screen and that McKiernan never got a warrant to look through the phone.

McKiernan would go on to testify that he "looked at the screen on the front and read" the text incriminating text message, according to court documents.

After his January 2017 conviction, Alvarez appealed to the state Supreme Court, but lost.

"There was no evidence that the officer opened the cell phone, manipulated it to view the text message, or otherwise perused its contents," a judge wrote in the decision.

In September 2019, Alvarez asked for a new trial in Worcester Superior Court. His attorney, Matthew Koes, of Framingham, submitted the Kyocera phone's manual as evidence, along with testimony from digital forensics expert Steven Verroneau.

"Based upon my experience with these types of cellular devices and by review of the pictures and manual for this particular device, the content of a text message would not be displayed on the front, 'outer' screen of the phone," Verroneau wrote in an affidavit.

In early November, the Worcester District Attorney's office asked for more time to investigate Alvarez's claim about McKiernan's testimony. But on Nov. 19, prosecutors entered a nolle prosequi — essentially abandoning the matter.

In court filings, the DA's office does not say why it abandoned the case except that "justice was not done." A DA's office spokesman declined to comment beyond the nolle filing.

Alvarez was also not immediately available for comment on the case. Worcester officials declined to comment citing ongoing litigation, but did confirm McKiernan is still employed with the department.

The suit says that Alvarez suffered "humiliation, emotional distress and embarrassment" and missed out on job opportunities and family relationships while in prison, among other charges. Koes is naming the city in the suit because Worcester's "policies and customs led McKiernan to believe that he could violate Alvarez’s constitutional rights."

You can read the full lawsuit here: