Canton Coverup: Officer’s Death Unravels Alleged Multi-Force Web of Corruption

On the night of January 28, 2022 and into the early hours of January 29, Read and O’Keefe enjoyed a night out at a local bar called Waterfall Bar and Grille with several couples, including Boston Police Sergeant Brian Albert and his wife, Nicole.

As the bar started to empty around midnight, the Alberts invited the group back to their home to end the night to celebrate their son, Brian Albert Jr.’s, birthday. 

Read claims she dropped O’Keefe off at the Alberts’ residence “just after midnight.” According to data collected by a defense witness, O’Keefe’s phone pinged near the Alberts’ home at 12:19 a.m. before recording 80 steps and three flights of stairs. 

Regardless of the phone data, prosecutors claim O’Keefe was never able to enter the residence because he was allegedly run over by a drunk Read on her drive home, leaving him to die in a snow covered lawn. 

Nicole and Brian Albert, along with the other people inside the home, maintain that O’Keefe never entered the residence on January 29.

Phone records show that Read made “hysterical” phone calls to O’Keefe’s friends asking about his whereabouts just before 5 a.m.

One close friend, Jennifer McCabe–who also happens to be Nicole Albert’s sister–answered Read’s call.

The two women drove Read’s car back to O’Keefe’s residence before another friend, Kerry Roberts, joined them in the search. 

The three women drove Read’s car back to the Albert residence at approximately 6:00 a.m. and discovered O’Keefe on his back in the front lawn. While Read and Roberts administered first aid, McCabe stayed inside the vehicle to call 911. 

According to Nicole’s statements made to investigators, neither she nor Brian went outside to inquire about the police presence outside their front door or why O’Keefe was dead in their lawn. 

While Jennifer McCabe and the Albert family maintain their innocence, Read’s defense team recently unraveled a web of deceit and corruption within several police forces, including an inability to turn over exculpatory evidence. Exculpatory evidence is evidence that is favorable to a defendant.

This new evidence painted a completely different story than what the Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office and Massachusetts State Police initially claimed.

While McCabe claims she left the party at the Albert’s residence at 1:30 a.m. before driving home, new evidence shows she actually drove by John O’Keefe’s house before getting home at 2:23 a.m.

Almost immediately after arriving home, McCabe’s phone data shows her using Google at 2:27 a.m.: “hos[sic] long to die in the cold.”

While the prosecution claims that Read hit O’Keefe with her car, injuries discovered on his body were not consistent with a car accident.

According to initial reports, O’Keefe’s eyes were swollen shut and his arm had several bloody lacerations consistent with a dog attack. According to the defense motion, the Albert family dog was a “K9 German Shepherd named Chloe.” 

Read and her team maintain her innocence and believe the Albert family’s close relationships with members of various police forces is hindering the investigation. 

The lead investigator, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, is a “close family friend” of the Alberts and McCabes. Brian Albert’s brother, Kevin Albert, is a Canton Police Officer who is friendly with the former Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz.

In a September 15 hearing, Read’s defense presented a motion to compel evidence, including footage on a camera located at the Albert residence. The defense also cited several categories of evidence that they claim have been withheld from the prosecution.

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