NEW BEDFORD — NOAA's Northeast law enforcement office has quietly backed away from what Mayor Scott W. Lang called an "ill-advised, uninformed, insensitive, retaliatory" decision to assign a Boston-based enforcement officer to head the New Bedford office.
According to a Dec. 20 e-mail obtained by The Standard-Times through a freedom of information request, Susan Williams, a criminal investigator assigned to the Boston/Chelsea law enforcement office of NOAA, was to have started in New Bedford Feb. 1.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokeswoman Lesli Bales-Sherrod issued a brief explanation in an e-mail reply to a question from The Standard-Times: "The assistant special agent in charge position in New Bedford is vacant following ASAC Louis Jachimczyk leaving federal service. We are not making any changes at this time. The New Bedford office will continue to be overseen by Deputy Special Agent in Charge Mark Micele and Acting Special Agent in Charge Tim Donovan."
She made no mention of Williams.
Both Williams and Moro poth Williams and Moro played roles in one of the most infamous prosecutions by NOAA in the Northeast, against the Gloucester Seafood Auction. It became the impetus for an inquiry by the Commerce Department's inspector general, who revealed widespread abuses by prosecutors in the Northeast that are still being investigated.
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