The Director of Fitchburg’s only year-round homeless shelter, who was recently accused of assaulting clients, has been placed on paid administrative leave by his employer.
The decision comes two days after an investigation by GBH News into allegations raised by advocates on behalf of homeless individuals who said Kevin MacLean — Our Father’s House director of homelessness — physically and sexually assaulted clients.
“We take these allegations seriously and will do our utmost to learn the truth,” Our Father’s House Executive Director Judith Nest-Pasierb wrote in a statement.
MacLean was placed on leave “pending the outcome of our investigation into serious allegations of misconduct while working as Our Father’s House Shelter’s director of homelessness,” she wrote.
She went on to say Our Father’s House has hired an attorney to help the organization "hire an experienced, unbiased, outside investigator to determine if there is any evidence to support these allegations,” Nest-Pasierb wrote.
The decision is a reversal for Nest-Pasierb, who said in an interview earlier this month that she had no plans to place MacLean on leave.
“In our country we’re innocent until proven guilty, period,” she said Feb 1.
Advocates told the Fitchburg Human Rights Commission in January MacLean had physically and sexually assaulted clients.
Nest-Pasierb told the commission in a Jan. 18 email that those allegations had been investigated and dismissed. “In this particular case, all accusations were both independently and officially investigated without merit,” Nest-Pasierb wrote.
The advocates said they went to the commission after two years of their concerns being largely ignored by Our Father’s House leadership, local police and state and federal officials.
Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest Martineau told GBH News in January the department is investigating the allegations brought before the commission and has asked anyone with information to contact the department.
