Town Evaluating Two Private Firms To Review African Meeting House Hate Crime Investigation

Two companies have responded to the town's request for proposals (RFP) to conduct an independent review of the state and local investigation into the 2018 hate crime at the African Meeting House on York Street.

The RFP was the result of a citizen petition sponsored by Gail Holdgate that was approved at the May 2024 Annual Town Meeting. The non-binding petition - Article 36 - asked the Select Board to authorize and fund a new independent investigation as well as a review of the original investigation into the hate crime. While the Select Board declined to pursue a new investigation, it decided in August to authorize funding for an independent review of the original investigation and send out an RFP for firms to conduct that review.

Three firms initially indicated their interest, but only two ultimately submitted a formal response: Comprehensive Investigations and Consulting of Quincy, Mass., and Billingsgate Associations LLC of Wellfleet, Mass.

Pomeroy Resources, Inc., of Plymouth, Mass., was the third firm that indicated its interest but did not submit a proposal.

The town had been scheduled to select one of the firms on Wednesday, but that decision was postponed after Select Board chair Brooke Mohr said she was unable to consult with Holdgate ahead of the meeting.

"I met with the police chief and reviewed the two firms that responded to the request - one firm chose not to respond - and then I reached out to Ms. Holdgate, the citizen article proponent, and asked to schedule a meeting with her to review the firms and get her input on the selection and we had hoped to get that done and do that this evening, but due to some travel plans that has not been scheduled. So this will be postponed to a later meeting."

At a prior Select Board meeting on Sept. 25th, Holdgate had expressed her frustration with the process of selecting a company to conduct the investigation.

"It's been four months since I stood before you and spoke about Article 36, the appropriation for an investigation of the African Meeting House, the hate crime, and this isn't going to go away," Holdgate said. "We have been informed the investigative team we voted on will not be put in place to oversee the investigation. We are asking for specifics, a final copy of the proposal before it goes out to bid to ensure a candidate chosen is not related to or worked for the town."

Holdgate's comments were followed by Barbara Burgo, co-founder of The Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum & Cultural Center in East Falmouth, who similarly expressed frustration with how the Select Board had handled the process. 

"I'm here again as a person who might have been one of the folks to help investigate the hate crime on the African Meeting House," Burgo said. "Again, as Gail just said, this is not going to go away... I feel it's time we take a look at what's really happening because it's been so long. Article 36 was put at the end of the agenda, as it was the time before that. That, by the way, is a customary tactic which the board has used very frequently on both July and August Select Board meetings I've attended. It's a micro-aggression well known to cultural anthropologists and civil human rights professionals like myself. Black folks and issues have been put at the back of the bus, so to speak, or the end of the agenda on several occasions for centuries. I'm not surprised, but I'm quite disappointed." 

Perhaps in response to those comments, the Select Board put the African Meeting House update close to the top of Wednesday night's agenda when Mohr disclosed that the selection would be made at a future date.

Members of the Nantucket community, including Jim Barros and Rose Marie Samuels, have long criticized the investigation into the hate crime, which never resulted in any criminal charges. The case was originally investigated by the Nantucket Police Department, which later turned the case over to the Cape & Islands District Attorney's office when Jeffrey Sayle, the brother-in-law of Nantucket Police Department deputy chief Charles Gibson and town manager Libby Gibson, came forward with information about the incident.

A grand jury was convened by the District Attorney's office in 2020, which led to Sayle being indicted on a charge of misleading the investigation. The grand jury declined to indict a second, unnamed individual who was also being investigated by the District Attorney's office, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. Sayle ultimately pleaded guilty in 2021 to a charge of making false statements to police and was placed on probation for 18 months and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, as well as undergo racial-sensitivity counseling with a social worker.

In a civil case brought by Barros and Samuels, Judge Mark Gildea ruled in 2022 that island resident Dylan Ponce was responsible for the racist graffiti discovered on the historic building and that he violated the civil rights of the two plaintiffs. Ponce had been employed by Sayle, who identified him as the perpetrator and alleged that Ponce had confessed to him shortly after the hate crime had been committed in 2018. During the grand jury process and the hearings related to the civil rights lawsuit, Ponce repeatedly declined to testify, exercising his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Judge Gildea issued a permanent injunction against Ponce that ordered him to stay away from the African Meeting House, have no contact with Barros or Samuels and stay at least 25 yards away from them in public, as well as requiring that Ponce not violate their civil rights in the future.

Now, six years after the hate crime, Holdgate, Barros, and Samuels are hoping an independent review could help bring new information to light and evaluate whether the matter was properly investigated.

The scope of services for the independent review of the investigation requested by the town was as follows:

• The consultant should conduct a complete file review of all Police Department files and all publicly available files from the District Attorney’s Office, Massachusetts State Police, and Attorney General’s Office related to the African Meeting House investigation that began on March 11, 2018.
• The consultant should prepare a report that is suitable for public disclosure outlining the steps that were taken by the Nantucket Police Department in pursuing the investigation.
• The report should make findings whether the Nantucket Police Department followed the appropriate process in conducting the investigation and making criminal referrals.
• The report should identify any deficiencies in the steps undertaken by the Nantucket Police Department and include findings as to any further steps that should have been undertaken.
• The report should also identify barriers that were encountered during the relevant timeframe that may have impeded the ability of the Nantucket Police Department to gather all relevant facts.
• The report should assess what steps, if any, the Nantucket Police Department could or should have taken, given the constraints attendant to any criminal investigation, to keep the public more fully informed of the progress of the investigation.
• Finally, the report should provide recommendations as to how similar incidents could be handled more effectively in the future by the Police Department and the Town.