Police officers associated with Michael Proctor face disciplinary action for their conduct

Two police officers whose questionable conduct on duty became public during the testimony of disgraced police officer Michael Proctor in the trial of Karen Read face disciplinary action by their departments following separate internal investigations, officials said Monday.

A State Police investigator who supervised Proctor faces disciplinary action for failing to reprimand him for sending inappropriate text messages during the Read investigation, authorities said. A Canton detective faces reprimand for drinking alcohol while working with Proctor.

Following an internal investigation, Sergeant Yuri Bukhenik was stripped of five vacation days for failing to adequately supervise, counsel, discipline or document “the inadequacies of a subordinate,” according to a disciplinary order signed Monday by Col. John E. Mawn Jr., interim superintendent of the state police.

Hours after the miscarriage of justice in Read’s murder trial in July, state police officials announced that Proctor had been relieved of duty.

Proctor was one of the lead investigators in the January 2022 murder of the Mansfield woman’s boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in Canton. Read is accused of hitting O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV in a drunken rage and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.

During the high-profile trial, Proctor took the stand and read out crude and inhumane text messages he had written about Read during the murder investigation and sent to colleagues, friends and relatives. Bukhenik was the recipient of these group chats.

Proctor testified in Norfolk Superior Court that “my emotions got the better of me” when he sent the messages, in which he called Read a “nutcase,” a “lunatic” and a “moron.” He made fun of her illnesses and Fall River accent and said he wished Read would kill herself.

The texts came to light as part of a federal investigation into the police handling of the Read case.

During Read’s trial, Proctor also testified about an incident in which he and Canton police Detective Kevin Albert – whose brother owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found – were investigating an unsolved case on Cape Cod in July 2022.

The two men ended their day with “a couple of beers,” and the next day, Proctor discovered Albert’s badge in his vehicle. When Proctor texted Albert about the badge, Albert asked, “Did I bring my gun?” and added a wincing emoji, according to testimony.

As a result, Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty placed Albert on leave on June 13 pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

The results of that investigation were released on Monday and show that Albert violated policies regarding possession or consumption of alcohol while on duty and behaved in a manner unbecoming an officer.

In an email sent Monday, Rafferty said Albert was disciplined as a result of and accepted the disciplinary action of working three unpaid eight-hour shifts.

In the Read case, after a trial that lasted more than two months, a Norfolk Supreme Court judge declared the trial null and void on July 1 after the jury said it had failed to reach a conclusion after several days of deliberations.

Read’s next trial is scheduled for January 27.

Prosecutors have said they will not call Proctor as a witness in the next trial.

You can reach Tonya Alanez at [email protected]. Follow her @talanez.