Fitchburg Homeless Shelter Finds 'Insufficient Evidence' Of Misconduct By Former Director

An independent investigator has found there is insufficient evidence to conclude that the former service director of a Fitchburg homeless shelter engaged in abusive activity or sexual misconduct, despite allegations made by homelessness advocates and former staff.

Six former Our Father’s House employees told GBH News earlier this year that they endured months, or years, of verbal and sexual harassment from then-Director of Homelessness Kevin MacLean, while also being directed to discriminate against homeless shelter clients and falsify shelter records. They said appeals to shelter officials, local police as well as state and federal authorities were brushed off. Advocates for the homeless also alleged that clients of the shelter had been abused.

The Fitchburg police and Our Father's House both launched investigations of the allegations — first raised at a January meeting of the Fitchburg Human Rights Commission — but the police closed their investigation in April, concluding there was not enough evidence to press charges. MacLean resigned June 1.

Our Father’s House issued a statement Thursday announcing that its independent investigator — Worcester attorney Robert Hennigan, Jr. — could not substantiate allegations of sexual misconduct. In addition, the investigator “found insufficient evidence that Mr. MacLean ever physically assaulted any OFH clients or potential clients, and insufficient evidence that he ever imposed improper conditions on them in order to remove them from or keep them out of OFH programs.”

“This was a thorough vetting of all allegations against Mr. MacLean and Our Father’s House staff’s handling of those allegations,” said OFH Board Chairman Robert Antonioni. “The findings show our staff took all of these allegations seriously, documented them, and took appropriate action on them before and during the investigation.”

The organization declined to provide GBH News a copy of the investigation, saying that the investigator promised confidentiality for people who were interviewed.

The OFH statement notes that MacLean refused to be interviewed by Hennigan, as did seven other people the investigator was trying to talk to.

While the investigation did not result in any actions against MacLean, it has led the organization to draft “a series of proposals to strengthen its longstanding workplace conduct policies and expand its training programs for all management, staff and board members,” the statement said.