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CHICOPEE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — The Chicopee Public Schools Superintendent was placed under arrest on Wednesday on a count of making false statements about 99 threatening text messages sent to a candidate for the City's Chief of Police position. The Office of United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Rachael Rollins said in a statement that 51-year-old Lynn Clark of Belchertown had allegedly sent the dozens of messages, all in an attempt to get one candidate to withdraw their job application.
Officials said that Clark was set to appear in a Springfield federal court on Wednesday.
In December of 2021, the City of Chicopee was in the midst of hiring a new Chief of Police, when law enforcement got a report that one of the candidates was receiving threats to withdraw their application. Prior to that, in November, the victim said they were getting texts from multiple fake phone numbers that had been purchased via a mobile app.
Those texts, officials said, threatened to expose information that would cause the victim "reputational harm."
According to the D.A's office, investigation of phone and Internet records showed that Clark had allegedly bought the fake numbers associated with the threatening messages. When confronted, Clark allegedly denied being the sender, and allegedly suggested that the messages could have been sent by other City employees, the victim's colleagues, and even a member of Clark's own family.
Clark later backtracked and admitted she had sent the threatening messages, officials said.
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Officials said that the charge of making false statements can carry five years in prison, up to one supervised release, and a fine of up to $10,000.
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