Over the past few months, Red Mass Group has reported that Terry Thomas of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement still to this day recommends prosecuting Carl Stanley McGee, a former Deval Patrick administration official alleged to have committed the rape of a 15 year old boy in Florida. The allegations against McGee surfaced again when the Massachusetts Gaming Commission decided to appoint McGee to the position of interim executive director, after a cursory review of the allegations.
McGee settled with the boy's family in 2011 in what the boy's attorney, Wendy Murphy, described as a settlement "that would amount to more than 10 years the average income" of a normal American. McGee has consistently professed his innocence publicly to these charges.
Red Mass Group has obtained the investigative report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement which recommended prosecution of McGee after the State Attorney declined prosecution. The report outlines both why Special Agent Thomas recommended prosecution, and why the State Attorney felt they had insufficient evidence to proceed. Nowhere does it state that either the FDLE or the ASA thought McGee was innocent.
On July 31,2008, Inspector Thomas completed his review of the case file. The following is a
synopsis of his observations and recommendations:
The victim made a timely report and positively identified the suspect.
The victim was consistant in his statements to law enforcement and the Child Protection Team.
The victim and family support criminal prosecution of the suspect.
The victim appeared to be fearful of the suspect and denied consensual sexual contact with the suspect.
Due to his age, the victim could not, by law, consent to sexual contact with the suspect.
Inspector Thomas, in his capacity as an expert witness, has seen cases successfully prosecuted with less evidence than that listed in this case.
Inspector Thomas recommended that the State Attorney for the 20th Judicial Circuit reconsider the prosecution of the supect for Sexual Battery on a child under the age of 16 to include the lesser included charge of Lewd & Lascivious Acts upon a child under the age of 16.
The Assistant State Attorney in charge of the case gave the FDLE the reasons they declined prosecution.
ASA McGruther stated that there were several areas of weakness in the case that led the State Attorney's Office to decline filing criminal charges. ASA McGruther described that there was a witness who should have been able to corroborate the victim's statement, but could not, there were no videotaped security cameras in the area where the incident was alleged to have occurred, and they were not able to corroborate the meeting between the reported victim and suspect. ASA McGruther also described that there was no forensic evidence recovered from the area that would identify either the reported victim or suspect. ASA McGruther explained that the totality of the circumstances led the State Attorney's Office to decline filing criminal charges.
