BOSTON — A former Massachusetts police officer who was previously… He pleaded not guilty to killing a woman He is accused of sexually exploiting her while she was underage and was charged on Tuesday with causing the death of her unborn son.
Matthew Farwell, 39, of Easton, is accused of strangling Sandra Birchmore in early 2021 after she told him she was pregnant and he was the father. Birchmore was 23 years old at the time.
Farwell served as an officer with the Stoughton Police Department from 2012 until 2022.
Farwell, who was arrested and charged in August 2024, remains in federal custody. He was scheduled to stand trial next year on the preliminary charges.
He is represented by several federal public defenders who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Birchmore began participating in the Police Explorers program when she was 12 years old, according to the indictment in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
Court documents say Farwell, who was a volunteer police scout, used his power and access to the groom, sexually exploited and then sexually assaulted Birchmore when she was 15, and that he continued to have sex with her when she became an adult.
“During certain shifts when Farwell was supposed to be performing his duties as a Stoughton police officer, he instead engaged in sexual acts with Birchmore,” the indictment said.
In late 2020, Birchmore discovered she was pregnant and told Farwell, according to the indictment.
Farwell allegedly strangled Birchmore on or about Feb. 1, 2021, and then used his knowledge of police to photograph her apartment to make it appear as if she died by suicide, according to the indictment.
When Farwell was indicted on the initial charges, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara said the department worked with other agencies, including the FBI, to investigate.
“The day after Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her Canton apartment, I ordered a lengthy and aggressive internal affairs investigation, the instructions of which made it clear that no stone should be left unturned,” McNamara said in a statement.
“The alleged murder of Sandra is a terrible injustice,” McNamara said. “The allegations against the suspect, a former Stoughton police officer, represent the single worst act of not only professional misconduct but indeed human indecency that I have observed in nearly three decades of law enforcement work.”