ATTLEBORO — On Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, at approximately 8:13 a.m., Officers Lindsey Bray, Christopher Sobral and Joe Rebelo of the Attleboro Police Department were dispatched to the La Salette shrine located at 947 Park Street following a report of a break-in that took place overnight.
According to its Facebook page, the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette is a Roman Catholic “place of prayer, worship, and reflection.”
(The following account and quotations were taken from Officer Bray‘s Probable Cause Affidavit.)
When the officers arrived on scene, they spoke with Ronald Taylor, otherwise known as “Brother Ron.”
Taylor told the officers that he was alerted to the incident by a kitchen staff member who – after reporting to work that morning – noticed the kitchen had been broken into overnight.
Before gaining access to the building through the boiler room door, which was unlocked, the suspect attempted to break into the shrine through at least six windows in the rear of the building.
Taylor pointed out two trash cans under a slightly ajar window the suspect climbed in attempt to break into the shrine.
According to Officer Bray, “the suspect(s) had attempted to place the trash receptacles in a manner which the suspect could step on one trash receptacle to get on top of the second to gain access to the window. The top portion of the window where the trash receptacles were positioned was slightly ajar. However, Brother Ron stated the suspect(s) were unable to open the window any further due to the way it was secured. That window did not appear to be damaged.”
In addition, officers observed that the screens of about five other windows in the rear of the building “were bent up as if someone had attempted to raise the screen from the bottom but failed to do so.”
Near the windows with damaged screens, officers found a bag of beverages – some opened and others unopened – that had been stolen from La Salette’s kitchen. The officers returned the unopened bottles to the kitchen, the opened bottles were taken back to the police station as evidence.
The responding officers then reviewed the shrine’s surveillance footage.
At approximately 1:55 a.m. that day, the footage captured a white male in the shrine with brown, medium-length hair donning a black “Back to the Future” t-shirt with a graphic of flames underneath the car from the movie.
“Officer Bray believed the male suspect was John Maloney based on the suspect’s physical appearance, gait and tattoos,” Officer Bray said. “Maloney has a distinct shamrock tattoo on the front of his neck. Sergeant [Tim] Keane, who has an extensive history of dealing with Maloney, also believed the suspect was Maloney. Officers are familiar with Maloney because they frequently encounter him and respond to calls for service involving him on a frequent basis. He is known to be homeless in the downtown Attleboro area.”
According to court documents, Maloney is 31 years old.
Police began looking for Maloney. Officer Bray and Sergeant McKenzie went to a homeless encampment off Eddy Street where they heard Maloney might be staying. Some of the individuals at the encampment told the officers that Maloney typically visits the soup kitchen at the Centenary United Methodist Church on Sanford Street on Saturdays. Officer Matthew Chadbourne went to the church and searched the area, but didn’t find Maloney.
Officer Chadbourne then went uptown and searched the area around the MBTA where he saw Maloney at the Greater Attleboro and Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) bus station located at 101 South Main Street.
“Maloney was observed in the exact same clothing that he was captured wearing on surveillance footage at La Salette Shrine overnight,” Officer Bray said. “That clothing, as previously mentioned, was the black ‘Back to the Future’ t-shirt, jeans, and dark boots.”
Officer Chadbourne asked Maloney if he went to La Salette last night. Maloney said he couldn’t recall because he “drank a lot” the night before.
“Officers showed Maloney one of the photos of the suspect from the surveillance footage overnight and Maloney identified the suspect as himself,” Officer Bray said.
Officer Chadbourne placed Maloney under arrest and transported him to the Attleboro Police Department.
Maloney was charged with Breaking and Entering Building Nighttime for Felony and Vandalize Property.
According to Officer Bray, when Maloney arrived at the station, he agreed to speak with Detective Joseph Daday. Maloney was escorted to an interview room where he was read his Miranda Rights, signed a Miranda Rights form, and agreed to a recorded interview with the detective.
“During the course of that interview Maloney stated that he was the one who was captured on surveillance footage of La Salette, but he could not recall his actions that night,” Officer Bray said. “Maloney stated that he had no recollection of breaking into La Salette Shrine due to alcohol and substance abuse. He also stated that he was struggling with his mental health and wanted help.”
After the recorded interview, Maloney was escorted back to the booking area where he was booked by Sergeant Keane, searched by Officer Chadbourne, and fingerprinted by Officer Bray.
“While Maloney’s property was inventoried, it was discovered he had a dark purple vestment which belonged to one of the priests of the church,” Officer Bray said. (When Officer Chadbourne returned the vestment to Brother Ron at La Salette, Brother Ron estimated the value of the vestment at approximately $50).
Maloney was then placed into a holding cell in the cell block of the Attleboro Police Headquarters.
(The account and quotations in the remainder of this article were taken from the Probable Cause Affidavit of Sergeant Matthew Cook.)
On Sunday, Oct. 8, at approximately 12:45 p.m., Maloney tried to flood his holding cell, causing “slight” damage to the floor and ceiling. Sergeant Ayman Kafel, the on-duty shift commander, submitted an Application for Criminal Complaint for the incident. Maloney was transported to an adjacent cell following the incident.
On the evening of Monday, Oct. 9, Maloney was in his new cell with three blankets that had been provided to him by police. Sergeant Timothy Cook, who was the on-duty shift commander at the time, said Maloney was dipping his blankets in the water of the toilet bowl, smearing them with feces, then throwing them about the cell.
“The toilet itself had Maloney’s feces in it, and the fecal matter was being smeared onto the blankets,” Sgt. Cook explained. “Maloney was observed throwing the blankets, contaminated with his own feces, on the walls of the cell, on the cell door, and on the floor of the cell. Maloney was spitting on the door of the cell. It was obvious that Maloney was doing this deliberately, with purposeful intent, and was willfully vandalizing the holding cell.”
Three officers then relocated Maloney to another holding cell where he was secured. According to Sgt. Cook, Maloney was compliant with the process and offered no resistance.
“Maloney was not given blankets, as it was obvious he had the intent to use the blankets to cause damage to city property,” Sgt. Cook explained. “During the course of this event, Maloney made no statements that indicated he had any suicidal or homicidal ideations. [I] subsequently contacted the crisis hotline and spoke with Sofia of CCBC [Community Counseling of Bristol County]. Sophia was advised of Maloney’s behaviors, and indicated that it did not meet the criteria for a crisis response.”
Maloney was charged with a second count of Vandalize Property for covering the police department’s blankets/holding cell with fecal matter, water contaminated in fecal matter, and spittle.
“The holding cell was obviously downed, the blankets could not be submitted for laundering in the usual manner and both were rendered unusable as a result of Maloney’s vandalization,” Sgt. Cook said.
Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story was from October, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to get the court documents for the incident. FOIAs are time consuming.