William Farwell

Sandra Birchmore, 23, first met William Farwell in 2010 as part of the Youth Explorers program, when she was 13.

2002

• William Farwell was a member of the Stoughton Police Explorers program as a teenager and was designated a Lieutenant in the Explorer Program in 2002. After high school, he entered the U.S. Army. He later returned to the Explorers program as a guest instructor at the request or direction of Robert Devine. Source

2003

• Robert Devine brought in former Explorers Matthew Farwell and his twin brother, William, as guest instructors. Later that year, William Farwell was designated a lieutenant within the Explorer Program.
• After completing the Stoughton Explorers Program, William Farwell impersonated a police officer by activating strobe lights in his personal vehicle and pulling another vehicle over. Passing Officer Faria caught him when he exited his car to confront the civilian he had unlawfully stopped and detained.

2008

• William Farwell attended a Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal (NAVSCOLEOD)
• Billy has volunteered with the Stoughton Police Explorers program, which he grew up with. He has assisted Stoughton Police Executive Officer Robert Devine in running the annual academy, bringing in Army EOD equipment so the kids could try on a bomb suit or drive one of the robots.

2010

• Sandra Birchmore became involved with the Stoughton Police Explorers program at age 13. She was initially placed on the program’s standby list in 2010. William Farwell later told Massachusetts State Police that he first met Sandra during this period when she was an Explorer, and he was serving as a guest instructor. Source

2011

• Sandra joined the Stoughton Police Explorers program. William Farwell continued to assist Robert Devine as a guest instructor. Source

September 6, 2011

• William Farwell applied to PD but was bypassed for employment.

December 9, 2011

• William, aka Billy, served full-time with the Massachusetts National Guard and was deployed overseas to Kosovo. He was a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Team Leader.

2012

• William Farwell served full-time and was deployed overseas.

September 2014

• William received an offer of employment for the Patrol Officer position. He also received an appointment to the Massachusetts State Police and attended the MSP recruit Academy.

July 20, 2016

• William Farwell was at training at the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana, on Wednesday.
• William Farwell had been discharged from the military for misconduct.

March 21, 2017

• William Farwell became an authorized member of the Stoughton Police Department. Source

September, 2017

• William Farwell received an offer of employment for the Patrol Officer position. He also received an appointment to the Massachusetts State Police and attended the MSP recruit Academy.

2018

• While William was working a paid police detail, Sandra approached him, and they discussed her interest in joining the U.S. Army. William connected Sandra with an Army recruiter. According to William’s later Massachusetts State Police interview, Sandra began contacting him regularly after that encounter. Source
• William later admitted to Massachusetts State Police that he and Sandra had been in a relationship for about two years. The public version of the Stoughton internal-affairs report contains redactions concerning portions of William’s description of the relationship. Source

2019

• According to William’s account to investigators, his relationship with Sandra ended after she approached him and his family at a Fourth of July event. William said he subsequently blocked Sandra on social media, although the two continued communicating “off and on.” Source
• William Farwell queried Sandra Birchmore in the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Information System on two occasions without an official law-enforcement purpose. Investigators ultimately alleged that between 2017 and 2021, William conducted 26 unauthorized database searches, including two involving Sandra and 24 involving himself.  Source⁠

April 19, 2020

• William was assigned to the Stoughton Police Department’s 12:00 a.m.–8:00 a.m. patrol shift. Beginning at 6:47 a.m., he exchanged messages with Sandra. The messages continued beyond the scheduled 8:00 a.m. end of his shift. The public internal-affairs report redacts portions of the content but characterized communications reviewed during the investigation as sexually explicit. Source
• William then worked a paid detail from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The communications that began during his overnight shift continued while he was working the paid detail. Internal-affairs investigators later sustained a conduct-unbecoming allegation based partly on his conduct that day.  Source⁠

April 29, 2020

• Internal-affairs investigators identified two separate periods on April 29 when William exchanged inappropriate communications with Sandra while working for the Stoughton Police Department: first during a work shift and later while assigned to a paid detail. These incidents were later included among the specific dates supporting the sustained conduct-unbecoming finding against William. Source

May 6, 2020

• William Farwell was assigned to the 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. patrol shift. He exchanged messages with Sandra beginning at 6:42 a.m. and continuing until 7:25 a.m. Internal-affairs investigators later included these communications among the incidents supporting the sustained conduct-unbecoming finding.  Source⁠

August 1, 2020

• William exchanged text messages with Sandra. Portions of the communications describing what William said to Sandra are redacted from the publicly released investigative record. Source⁠

August 16, 2020

• William exchanged additional text messages with Sandra. The portion of the investigative report describing the substance of the communications is redacted. Source⁠

August 19, 2020

• William and Sandra continued communicating by text message. The specific content relevant to the investigation is redacted from the publicly released report. Source⁠

September 15, 2020

• William exchanged text messages with Sandra. The investigative report identifies this date as part of the documented communications between them, but the pertinent message content is redacted from the public copy. Source⁠

September 17, 2020

• William exchanged additional text messages with Sandra. The relevant content of the exchange is redacted in the publicly released investigative report. Source⁠

September 26, 2020

• William and Sandra exchanged text messages. The investigative report identifies communications between them on this date, although the relevant content is redacted from the public version. Source⁠

October 19, 2020

• William exchanged text messages with Sandra. Portions of the communications examined by investigators are redacted from the publicly released report. Source⁠

November 18, 2020

• William and Sandra exchanged additional text messages. The investigative report identifies communications on this date, but the relevant content is redacted from the publicly available version. Source⁠ 

December 10, 2020

• William and Sandra met in person. Investigators later examined this encounter as part of the Stoughton Police internal-affairs investigation into William’s relationship and communications with Sandra. Source

December 21, 2020

• William was assigned to a paid police detail from 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. He exchanged messages with Sandra throughout the morning and into the afternoon, with communications continuing until at least 1:49 p.m. Source

• 11:04 a.m., while William was working the paid detail, Sandra sent him a message. Investigators used the communications they reviewed as evidence that William exchanged inappropriate messages with Sandra while being paid to perform police duties. Source

January 2021

• William remained in communication with Sandra during the weeks preceding her death. The subsequent investigation examined Sandra’s electronic devices, text messages, and other digital evidence to reconstruct those contacts. Source

January 10, 2021

• William met with Sandra in person. The encounter became significant to investigators reconstructing Sandra’s contacts with members of the Stoughton Police Department during the weeks preceding her death. Source | IAB Report

February 1, 2021

• Matthew Farwell came to see Sandra. Birchmore was found dead on February 4, 2021, three days after Matthew Farwell was the last one who saw Sandra alive, and had told friends that she was pregnant with Matthew Farwell’s child. Matthew Farwell denied that the baby was his, and he was the last to see Sandra alive. Farwell told troopers he visited Birchmore’s apartment on the evening of Feb. 1, 2021, telling her that he wasn’t the father of her baby, records show. Birchmore was upset, Farwell told the troopers, but didn’t make “any suicidal statements.” “Matt said that he was straightforward in his conversation with her, and told her that it was all over and he was blocking her from all forms of communication,” Fanning wrote. Surveillance footage from Birchmore’s apartment complex showed Farwell entering her apartment building and then exiting 28 minutes later.

February 4, 2021

• Sandra was found dead inside her Canton apartment after a welfare check was requested when she failed to report to work. The investigation into her death ultimately led authorities to examine her relationships and communications with Stoughton Police Department personnel, including William Farwell. Source

February 8, 2021

• The Stoughton Police Department initiated an internal-affairs investigation into conduct by department personnel involving Sandra. William Farwell, Matthew Farwell, and Robert Devine ultimately became subjects of the investigation. Source

February 11, 2021

• 4:05 pm Trooper Matt Dunne interviewed William Billy” Farwell ” (Matthew Farwell’s twin brother) in a parking lot at Cobbs Corner in Stoughton.
• Billy said that he heard Sandra had passed away on Friday.
• Billy said he first met Sandra about ten years ago, when Sandra was a Police Explorer in Stoughton, and Billy was a guest instructor. The Police Explorer program is a junior academy program for high school-aged kids that exposes them to different facets of law enforcement.
• Billy said that he had not seen Sandra in a very long time, probably since the Explorers program.
• Billy became a Stoughton Police Officer in 2017.
• In 2018 Billy saw Sandra while he was working a paid detail in Stoughton.
• Billy said that Sandra remembered him, but he didn’t really remember her that well.
• Billy said Sandra wanted to join the Army and asked if he had any contacts. Billy, who still serves in the military, helped her contact recruiters to join the Army.
• Billy said that Sandra joined the Army but was eventually kicked out during boot camp.
• Billy said that Sandra started contacting him constantly. Billy said the last time he contacted Sandra was about two weeks ago, via email.
• Sandra told Billy that she had been accepted to nursing school.
• Billy said that he had a sexual relationship with Sandra going back about two years. Billy said that in 2020, he had been with her sexually maybe 2-3 times.
• Billy said that the last time they were together was sometime in December of 2020. Sandra told Billy that she was pregnant and that the father was his brother Matt. Billy said he knew that he didn’t get her pregnant

Evidence uncovered

Evidence uncovered in the investigation found that William Farwell had engaged in “multiple inappropriate physical encounters” with Birchmore and had sent explicit messages and photos to the girl while he was on duty, McNamara said.

• William reportedly exchanged inappropriate cellphone messages with Birchmore while on duty and introduced her to others, according to the findings.
• William Farwell encouraged Birchmore to “secretly record her sexual encounters with others” and send him the photos or videos.
• One photo Birchmore sent to William Farwell on Aug. 16, 2020, depicted the male genitalia of an unnamed Stoughton officer, according to POST records, which refer to Birchmore by her initials.
• William Farwell was aware that Birchmore believed she was pregnant with Matthew Farwell’s child and that Devine was having a sexual relationship with her, Davis wrote.

William Farwell was put on military leave and was later informed that he was being placed on paid administrative leave, Town Manager Robin A. Grimm said.

April 4, 2022

• The Town of Stoughton placed William Farwell and Robert Devine on administrative leave.
• Farwell was on military leave with an Army National Guard unit when the Town placed him on leave. From August 2021 until May 2022, he served in the Middle East, a Guard spokesperson said.

August 1, 2022

• William Farwell resigns from the Stoughton police. In a resignation letter, Farwell denied “any/all allegations of misconduct.” “I do not have confidence in the independence of the town’s investigation,” William Farwell began working the same day for the Transportation Security Administration at Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

• After leaving the Stoughton police, William Farwell worked for the Transportation Security Administration as an explosive specialist in Maryland

September 23, 2022

• Stoughton Police Department reveals misconduct by Farwell brothers, Devine in internal affairs report. The department released a redacted report on its 19-month investigation, which found that Matthew and William Farwell and Devine had “inappropriate” relationships with Birchmore, but didn’t specify the sexual nature of the misconduct.

October 2022

• The Transportation Security Administration agency dismissed William Farwell in October 2022, a spokesperson said.
• He purchased a home in Rio Rancho, N.M.

December 29, 2022

• Sandra Birchmore’s estate, through personal representative Darlene Smith, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Norfolk Superior Court naming William Farwell, Matthew Farwell, Robert Devine, the Town of Stoughton, and the Stoughton Police Department as defendants. The complaint accused the former officers of wrongful death, assault and battery, and negligence, and alleged a years-long pattern of grooming and sexual misconduct involving Sandra. The defendants denied the allegations. Source⁠

January 9, 2023

• Sandra Birchmore’s estate filed an amended complaint in the civil case against William Farwell and the other defendants. Court records later identified this filing as Docket No. 3. Source⁠

January 20, 2023

• Sandra Birchmore’s estate filed a second amended complaint against William Farwell and the other defendants. The civil claims included wrongful death and negligence arising from the alleged conduct involving Sandra and the circumstances preceding her death. Source⁠

August 22, 2023:

• POST Commission seeks to strip Matthew and William Farwell of their authority to work in law enforcement. The commission accused Matthew Farwell of having sex with Birchmore, beginning in 2013 when she was 15 and he was 27. He has denied having sex with Birchmore when she was underage.
• The commission accused William Farwell of sending sexually graphic images to Birchmore while he was on duty as a Stoughton police officer between April and December of 2020.
• The agency also alleged that in 2019, William Farwell twice searched Birchmore’s name in a state law enforcement database “despite having no official law enforcement purpose for doing so.” Both brothers were accused of lying about the extent of their relationships with Birchmore during 2021 interviews with State Police troopers investigating her death.

November 28, 2023

• Affidavit reveals Birchmore and Matthew Farwell exchanged 32,709 electronic messages between December 2019 and her death in February 2021

July 2024

• An Arizona National Guard spokesperson confirmed that William Farwell had joined the Arizona National Guard. By this time, William had relocated from Massachusetts and had purchased a home in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Source⁠

August 6, 2024

• During a POST pre-hearing conference, William Farwell’s attorney, David M. Bae, asked that Sandra Birchmore’s identity and her connection to the Stoughton Police Explorers program be withheld from the panel that would hear William’s decertification case, arguing that the information would be unfairly prejudicial.
• POST attorney Shaun Martinez argued that Sandra’s connection to the program and William’s knowledge that Matthew Farwell had allegedly had a sexual relationship with Sandra while she was a minor were relevant to evaluating William’s alleged misconduct.
• Bae denied allegations that William had engaged in sexual conduct with Sandra while she was a minor, stating there was no evidence of such conduct in either the POST proceeding or the civil lawsuit.
• Retired Judge Judith A. Cowin, serving as the POST hearing officer, was expected to determine what information concerning Sandra could be presented during William’s scheduled decertification hearing. Source⁠

September 6, 2024

• William Farwell signed a Voluntary Decertification Agreement with the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. Under the agreement, he agreed to permanent revocation of his Massachusetts law-enforcement certification.
• The agreement did not constitute an admission by William that the allegations against him were true. He agreed, however, that the allegations were sufficient to support revocation and waived his rights to contest the allegations, conclusions of law, and terms of the agreement in proceedings involving POST. Source⁠

September 19, 2024

• The state’s law enforcement oversight agency is set to consider a request on Thursday, September 19, 2024, to settle disciplinary proceedings against a former Stoughton police officer, William T. Farwell, whose twin brother was indicted last month for the 2021 strangulation of Sandra Birchmore.
• Last year, the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission (POST) initiated proceedings to revoke Farwell’s certification as a police officer in Massachusetts and add his name to a national registry of decertified officers. According to the meeting agenda, the agency’s Division of Standards is expected to recommend that commissioners approve a “voluntary decertification or suspension agreement” with Farwell and three other officers.

September 24, 2024

• DECERTIFICATION ORDER The Respondent William Farwell has entered into a Voluntary Decertification Agreement (“Agreement”) under which he has agreed to the permanent revocation of his certification (also known as decertification) as a law enforcement officer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, beginning on the date of approval of the Agreement by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (“Commission”, and the entry of his decertification in the National Decertification Index (“NDI”). See M.G.L. c. 6E, §§ 3(a), 10(b)(iii), and 10(g): M.G.L. c. 30A, §§ 10 and 13. As further conditions of the Agreement, the Respondent has waived all rights to contest, in this or any other administrative or judicial proceeding to which the Commission is or may be a party, the factual allegations, conclusions of law, terms and conditions, and other provisions contained in the Agreement. Decertification Date: September 24, 2024

January 16, 2025

• 1:43 AM Responding to a domestic in-progress call, officers found the home in disarray with items, including a plant pot and a picture frame, broken. The reporting party, identified as William’s spouse, stated that William became extremely intoxicated after returning home from a bar and began breaking things. Their daughter also witnessed William yelling and throwing items, and he nudged her towards the front door when she told him to stop. Although the spouse called 911 to get William to stop breaking things and was not concerned about the broken items, she felt intimidated, harassed, and annoyed by his actions. The daughter requested that battery charges not be filed and signed a waiver of prosecution. Source

September 11, 2026

• Federal prosecutors identified William Farwell as one of 68 potential government witnesses for the federal murder trial of his twin brother, Matthew Farwell.
• William has not been criminally charged in Sandra Birchmore’s death. His potential testimony is significant because he previously admitted to Massachusetts State Police that he had a sexual relationship with Sandra as an adult, and investigators documented his knowledge of Sandra’s relationship with Matthew. Inclusion on the witness list does not establish that prosecutors will ultimately call William to testify. Source⁠

Unauthorized Searches in DCJIS

• Investigators allege that between 2017 and 2021, William Farwell conducted 26 unauthorized searches in the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) database.
• 2 of the searches were for Sandra Birchmore, despite Farwell having no law enforcement purpose.
• The other 24 searches were for information on himself.

Admissions in Police Interviews

• William Farwell admitted that he had a sexual relationship with Birchmore for about two years when she was an adult.
• He also admitted to sexual encounters with her in 2020, prior to her death.
• He claimed the last time he saw Birchmore was December 2020, when he learned she was pregnant with his brother Matthew Farwell’s child.
• Investigators, however, state that text messages show William and Birchmore met again in January 2021 for a sexual encounter.

Disciplinary Action

• William Farwell agreed to the permanent revocation of his law enforcement certification.
• He did so without admitting the allegations outlined in the investigative report.
• This decision means he cannot serve as a certified police officer in Massachusetts or elsewhere under POST Commission rules.

Department’s Response

• Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara supported the revocation. “William Farwell is unfit to be a police officer. I hoped the POST Commission would decertify him. He should never hold the Honorable title of Police Officer anywhere.”