City of Lowell Pays $750,000 to Settle Our Cases Alleging Confidential Informants Planted Cocaine

The City of Lowell agreed to pay $750,000 to settle our three cases alleging that the City used unreliable confidential informants due to its long standing practice of ignoring the need to properly investigate informants and to document their work. This resulted in officer Thomas Lafferty using informants who planted cocaine in the motor vehicles of our three clients. The Lowell police falsely arrested and charged each of our three clients with trafficking in cocaine. They faced mandatory minimum prison sentences for crimes they did not commit.

We recommend this article about the cases: Lowell officer's mishandling of confidential informants proves costly.