www.masstroopers.org

“Our Purpose is Progress, Our Goal is Excellence”

In This Issue….................In This Issue….................President’s Message ................ Page 2Editor’s Message ..................... Page 2Chaplain’s Corner .................... Page 4Ole’ Sarge ................................... Page 4

In The Book ......................... Pages 6-7Bulldog Of The Year ................. Page 8As I Was Saying ....................... Page 14MSP Sports ................................ Page 16

TrooperFebruary 2010 Serving New England's Largest Police Association Volume 23, Number 01

NewspaperThe Official Publication of the State Police Association of Massachusetts

Massachusetts State Police - The Nation's Oldest…Established 1865

SPAM helpsmake the holidays a little brighterfor many local families

pg. 15

QuiteAnHonor

On December 29, 2009Tpr. Tim Walsh (SP Norwell)was presented with the ArmyCommendation Medal forValor at a ceremony held atFlorian Hall in Dorchester.(Above) Fellow troopers andSPAM officials pose with Tpr.Walsh during the ceremony.(Left, L-R) Gregory Kelly,SFC; Tim Walsh, SSG; MajorThomas Sarrouf; and JasonLuppold, SFC. Major ThomasSarrouf (a trooper assigned toCIS) presented Tpr. Walshwith his Medal For Valor.

For more on this presti-gious award presentation, seepg. 8.

2009 SPAMElectionResults

CONSTITUTIONAL OFFICERSPresident: (Unopposed)

Richard R. Brown 1163

Vice President: (Unopposed)

Timothy G. Babbin 1160

Treasurer:Dana A. Pullman 1072Paul E. Cesan 150Christopher L. Coscia 76_____

Total Votes 1298

Secretary: (Unopposed)

Edward F. Hunter 1152

TROOP REPRESENTATIVESTroop A Representative:Julie A. Demers 72

Troop B Representative:Jeffrey S. Gordon 104

Troop C Representative:Andrew J. Daly* 142

Troop D Representative:Michael S. Downing 83

Troop E Representative:Brian R. Kelley 74

Troop F Representative:Robert P. Pitts 91

Troop H Representative:Paul Crowley* 86Brian Dunn 37_____

Total Votes 23

Troop GHQ Representative:Mark J. Caron 44

!""Election Results - Continued on pg. 3

TPR. JAIME CEPERO

Tpr. Jaime Cepero of theNarcotics Section/DEA Task Forcehas been the case officer/under-cover officer in an international nar-cotics/money laundering investiga-tion since 2004. Tpr. Cepero has

been involved in extremely com-plex undercover negotiations withmoney launders and narcotics traf-fickers of the highest level in multi-ple countries, both remotely andface to face.

As a result of Tpr. Cepero’s inno-vative investigative methods, the

still ongoing investigation hasresulted in the seizure of approxi-mately $190,000,000. Along withthe money, approximately 888 kilo-grams of Cocaine, 45 kilograms ofheroin, and 350 pounds of marijua-na has been seized. Additionally,the investigation has been the

basis for the initiation of approxi-mately 74 wiretap investigationsthroughout the world.

As a result of Tpr. Cepero’sactions, he was awarded theBulldog of the Year Award for 2009at the Annual Meeting on January7, 2010.

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AATTENTIONTTENTION SPSPAMAM MEMBERSMEMBERSFebruary 2009 Our Purpose is Progress Trooper Our Goal is Excellence Page 9Page 8 Our Purpose is Progress Trooper Our Goal is Excellence February 2009

On January 7, 2009 I had the distinct honor tobe awarded the Bulldog of the Year andalthough I had a bit of a heads up I found

myself standing there unable to formulate a responseother than thank you. If you know me at all you knowthat I am not the shy type or lack comment on any sub-ject. Specially as in the words of Dana Pullman whenI have watered down a bit. As I sat in the back of theroom and listen to the rest of the meeting, I lookedaround and the meaning of the award increased in myheart not for the reason it was given to me but the factthat it was recognition from my brother and sisterTroopers. Nothing that I did would have been possiblewithout the great police work and courage of manypolice officers in my DEA Group, police officers local-ly, throughout the country and in foreign countries.Federal agents including DEA agents Brian Dejoy,John Oldano and Dennis Hocker who have been anequal partner throughout the years. The ColombianNational Police who day in and day out their membersdie performing tasks on our behalf, I have had a greathonor of getting to know these men and women, theirfamilies and been accepted as a colleague and a friend.But I was particularly proud of the role many Troopershad in the past and current success of the investigation,

they deserve as much recognition and honor. TroopersRichard Ridlon and Patricia Riley performed greatundercover work at the beginning of this case, SgtBazzinotti who as a Trooper armed with a license platea name and a possible route of travel sat for 8 hoursovernight and found a needle in the haystack with 15pounds of cocaine. The numerous stops and seizuresby Sgt Kane, Sgt McCarthy and the most importantfact that it all started with a State Police investigationinitiated by Sgt Michael Grassia in the streets ofChelsea from a single hand to hand purchase (whichhe made me do as he often talks me into).

Many times I or other Troopers assigned to DEAhave called upon Troopers in various, InvestigativeUnits throughout the state for assistance and it hasalways been provided with the same professionalismand determination of success. Even more impressive,in a pinch when we have always been able to pick upthe phone to any barracks patrol or K-9 unit on dutyand with minimal information ask a single Trooper toperform a tactical stop in furtherance of the investiga-tion. I have never received anything but enthusiasmand witnessed nothing less than courage and profes-sionalism as they perform the task.

That speaks of the heart of a Trooper and the

Professionalism, Pride and Courage of theMassachusetts State Police. All of these acts and indi-viduals and many others that it would be too long tolist, over the years gave us the ability to mount thiscomplicated case which is still moving forward andmade me extremely proud to be a Trooper. Each andevery one of them has and will always have my respect.

Lastly, I would not have been able to do anythingon this job without the one man that gave birth to meat SP Foxboro and taught me the meaning of being aPolice Officer and Trooper. Trooper (now Lieutenant-never saw that coming) Dave Rae taught me all I need-ed to know and I owe to him any success that I haveever had on the State Police. Dave taught me that inlaw enforcement the one thing that means the mostand I should value the most is the respect earned fromthose who stand by your side. I am honored, humbledand deeply touched by this award, but moreover great-ly honored because it came from you my fellowTroopers.

Thank You, Stay Safe.

TROOPER JAIME CEPERO JR.65RTT

TROOPER JAIME CEPERO

BULLDOGOF THE Y E A R

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANK YOU FROM JAIME CEPERO ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following narrative was read at theaward ceremony to honor Staff SergeantTimothy J. Walsh for receiving the Army

Commendation Medal for Valor.

Staff Sergeant Timothy J. Walsh, UnitedStates Army, heroically distinguished him-self by exceptionally valorous conduct inthe face of the enemy while sewing as theEngineer Sergeant, OperationalDetachment Alpha (ODA) - 9211, SpecialOperations Task Force (SOTF)-92,Firebase MeS, Mazaar-e Shariff, BalkhProvince, Afghanistan, in support ofOperation ENDURING FREEDOM on 21May 2009. Sergeant Walsh was attached toODA-3 121 in support of OperationPhoenix. He, along with his detachmentoccupied a position overlooking the Chakvalley in the Wardak Province. SergeantWalsh was assigned to the security elementof an 84-man Commando task force. TheODA collapsing its perimeter began toestablish a patrol base. Sergeant Walshmoved his element to the southern mostportion of a spur overlooking the Chak val-ley to provide security for the entire taskforce to the south. The task force cameunder small arms fire from a squad size ele-ment with a heavy machine gun and AK-47s to the north. Within minutes it was fol-lowed by very effective, grazing fire from a

heavy machine gun firing from the valleyto the southwest. His entire security ele-ment of Commandos was caught in a killzone of effective and overwhelming fire.Most Commandos ran from the fire head-ing north while the security position to thesoutheast was effectively pinned down.Sergeant Walsh, knowing the position wasmanned by his security element, immedi-ately stood up, and without regard for hisown personal safety bounded down thespur to the heavily engaged position. Hethen provided covering fire with his rifleand grenade launcher while theCommandos manning the position maneu-vered to the north. The safe evacuation ofthe Commando position complete,Sergeant Walsh prepared to move back upthe spur to the north when he noticed histeammate dragging a commando with a lifethreatening gunshot wound. Without hesi-tation, knowing his teammate was in needof covering fire, Sergeant Walsh immedi-ately took up an exposed firing positionand again provided a high volume of cov-ering fire. The enemy maneuvered andbegan firing from the southeast. SergeantWalsh continued to man the position untilhis teammate and the wounded Commandowere behind cover, and he had exhaustedhis 40 millimeter grenade supply. SergeantWalsh then bounded back to the top of the

spur and rejoined the rest of his element.His element was now taking very effectivefire from two directions, from two machineguns. His element was pinned down andunable to maneuver offensively. The deci-sion was made to break contact AsSergeant Walsh began to get his securityelement ready to break contact, the enemywas still aggressively and effectively firingmachine guns from the southeast and

southwest. Sergeant Walsh, again withoutregard to his personal safety, stood andmotivated his Commandos, to fire andmaneuver and get out of the kill zone. Hisactions are in keeping with the finest tradi-tions of military heroism and reflect dis-tinct credit upon himself, the CombinedJoint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan, Special Operations CommandCentral, and the United States Army.

Trooper Timothy Walsh receives Army Commendation Medal for Valor

(Submitted Photo)

(L-R) Jason Luppold, SFC; Tim Walsh, SSG; Gregory Kelly, SFC.______________________________________________________

Page 16 Our Purpose is Progress Trooper Our Goal is Excellence February 2009

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TROOPER SPORTS

!""Boxing Update - pg. 11

OOn December 1, 2009 inChelmsford, Tpr. Wayne J.Gerhardt was on a paid

detail on Route 3, Standing Tall.Around 10:30 A.M. a motor vehiclenearly struck Tpr. Gerhardt and thenknocked over several cones whileswerving into the breakdown lane.The vehicle then struck two workersstanding at the rear of a truck,killing one of the workers instantly.The second worker suffered a trau-matic amputation of one of his legs.

Tpr. Gerhardt administered firstaid to the injured worker, includ-ing applying a tourniquet to thesevered limb. The victim wasthen air-l i f ted to Beth Israel

Hospital in Boston, where accord-ing to attending physicians, theactions of Tpr. Gerhardt con-tributed to the overall survival of

the victim. The victim requested a meeting

with Tpr. Gerhardt to thank him forhis actions. Tpr. Gerhardt visited

the victim in the hospital. For hisheroic actions, Tpr. Gerhardt isthe recipient of this month’sBulldog of the Month Award.

TPR. WAYNE J. GERHARDT

BULLDOGOF THE M O N T H

BOXING BITSThe next M.S.P. boxing show will be held in

Springfield on April 7th at 1900 hours at the usualvenue. That's the place where they held the last 3shows and I can't remember its name. This showwill be a fund raiser for the Girls Club of Springfieldand with this in mind I hope to see several womanTroopers fighting on this card to benefit this worthycause. I am also looking forward to seeing theBerkshire Buzzsaw along with tough Tpr. GregSpahl and the talented Tpr. Galvin on the card. Tpr.“Big Tim” Whalen now in “D” Troop promised me onefight this coming year so I fully expect him to honorhis word and be on the card. He's always comethrough in the past so I know he will not let me down.I'll fill in the blanks on this card as we get a little clos-er, God willing, we do have another 4 months.

FISTIC FLASHBACKIn a Convicts vs. Troopers match held in 1979 at

the Warwick Prison Camp (it's closed now), we madethe long hike up north and swapped leather with 3pretty tough guys. The prison camp had a boxinggym that would make Muhammad Ali jealous. Oneof the inmates was an artist and had painted a beau-tiful picture of Sugar Ray Leonard fighting upon thewall behind the boxing ring.

To the Fights.Tpr. Mike Lee of SP Brookfield fought a tall,

rangy guy who was a stick and move artist in the

MSP BoxingUpdate

_________________By Tpr. Bob Benoit

58th R.T.T. (Ret.)_________________

!""Boxing Update - Continued on pg. 15

Fourth Annual MSP LawEnforcement XC Challenge

Another Huge Success!This years race was the best ever. Held at the Wrentham

Developmental Center on November 14th, the turn out wasgreat. A record field of 145 runners traversed the 5K (3.1mile) MSTCA Cross Country course in the town ofWrentham. Overall winner in a smoking time of 17:22.7 wasTim Mahoney (brother to Tpr. Brian Mahoney, H-3). The firstfemale to cross the finish line was Abby Mahoney (wife ofTim and sister inlaw of Brian) in a time of 19:12.3. Top Copswere Tpr. Brendan Dole of the RISP in a time of 18:00.5 andTpr. Joy Yonkin of the RISP in a time of 19:35.5. Well Done!Top Law Enforcement team was the MSP with team mem-bers Collin Knaub, Robert Smith, and Brian Gavioli helpingto win the team title. After the race there was a cookout withplenty of food and cold liquid beverages. A great time washad by all who attended and thanks to all who did attend andhelped put on this fun MSP outing. Hope to see you nextyear. Thanks, Paul Powell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~• (Top) They are off and running.• (Above, left-inset) Team Captain Lt. Bill Coulter gives the

MSP team some last minute coaching• (Above, left) Tpr. Kevin Collins (H-3) puts in another out-

standing effort. Well Done!• (Left) Tpr. Brendan Dole of the RISP crosses the finish line

as this years Top Cop.