WORCESTER – Legal representation for a Worcester woman who says she endured sexual abuse between the ages of nine and 12 years old by former Worcester school principal and school committee member John Monfredo, has sent a letter to the city of Worcester demanding it comply with state law and provide records she requested.
Heather Prunier, of Worcester, seeks records from the city related to the investigation of sexual abuse she reported in December 1996. The Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School represents Prunier in matters related to the records she seeks.
On Oct. 17, a video released at standwithheather.com featured Prunier asking Worcester voters to reject candidates who protected the man she alleges sexually assaulted her from 1991 to 1994.
Worcester May Face Yet Another Records Lawsuit
Prunier’s legal representation sent a letter to the city last week demanding it comply with Massachusetts law and provide her with the records she’s entitled to. A lawsuit often follows a demand letter if the recipient does not comply.
Previous cases the city faced related to the state’s public records laws, including two cases initiated by the Telegram and Gazette, which ended in rulings against the city. Both cases involved records related to police misconduct.
The most recent case filed by the Telegram concluded in 2022. In deciding the case, the judge wrote that the city “acted in bad faith” in its arguments justifying its denying access to the records sought by the Telegram. The city became the first municipality in Massachusetts assessed punitive damages in a public records case since the law went into effect in 2017.
Chapter 41 § 97D, of Massachusetts law, not the public records law, governs access to the documents Prunier seeks. That section says that “reports of rape and sexual assault or attempts to commit such offenses, all reports of abuse perpetrated by family or household members,” and “all communications between police officers and victims of such offenses or abuse shall not be public reports and shall be maintained by the police departments in a manner that shall assure their confidentiality.”
The same section provides an exemption for survivors of those reported crimes, saying that, “all such reports shall be accessible at all reasonable times, upon written request, to: (i) the victim, the victim’s attorney, others specifically authorized by the victim to obtain such information, prosecutors,” and select few others.
Another survivor of a child sex crime who is now an adult told This Week in Worcester that a Middlesex County municipality released the records related to her case, in full with few redactions, within 10 business days earlier this year.
The City of Worcester Law Department received the records from the Worcester Police Department in August.
A spokesperson for City Manager Eric Batista’s office said, “I’m told the records will be provided shortly.”
Discussions with the Worcester Police Department
In 2023, in an article by Bill Shaner at Worcester Sucks and I Love It, Prunier publicly acknowledged for the first time that she is the woman who reported to police in 1997, when she was 15 years old, that Monfredo sexually abused her.
Worcester Chief of Police Paul Saucier reached out to Prunier in early 2024. After an initial discussion, Saucier connected her with Sgt. Justin Bennes of the Worcester Police Department’s Special Crimes/Sexual Assault Unit. Prunier and Bennes first met in April 2024 and again the following month. Discussions included Bennes’ review of the 1997 case file.
Prunier considered accepting an offer by the department to re-investigate her allegations against Monfredo. After significant deliberation and consultation with her family and closest friends, she declined. She says that members of the police department warned that discovering evidence so many years later would be extremely difficult.
Monfredo’s advanced age also weighed on Prunier’s decision. If the investigation produces enough evidence to charge Monfredo, the possibility of a decline in cognitive ability, substantial health problems, or his death makes a trial and conviction highly unlikely.
The re-traumatizing effect of enduring a process that once left her feeling disregarded by the legal system weighed especially heavily on her decision.
Pursuit of Records
After informing the department she declined to pursue a new investigation and charges, she made her first request for the case files from the 1997 investigation.
On two occasions, Prunier says she followed the instructions provided to her to request the files. Both resulted in the department issuing new instructions, claiming they had provided the previous instructions in error.
After seeking legal advice, Prunier hand-delivered a notarized document on July 21, 2025, to the police department that complied with state requirements.
On Aug. 12, an email from Bennes informed Prunier that the department had processed the documents and submitted them to the city’s law department. Bennes also provided Prunier with a new contact at the police department for any further inquiries.
Over two months since that email, Prunier says she has received no documents or contact from the City of Worcester.
While Ch. 41 § 97D provides no explicit timeline for the release of documents, “accessible at all reasonable times, upon written request,” would indicate less than months.
The state public records law requires agencies to provide records within 10 business days and allows an additional 15 business day extension if the agency provides notification to the requester prior to 10 business days elapsing. Prunier received no such notification.
Prunier says she believes those records will show that the Worcester Police Department turned over a robust case to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office in 1997, with more than adequate evidence to prosecute Monfredo.
John Conte, then the Worcester County District Attorney, and a long-time friend of Monfredo, declined to prosecute.
