Athol woman convicted of disorderly conduct after profane outburst outside The Steel Pub

ATHOL — At about 6:53 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2025, Athol Police Officer Paul Forand was dispatched to the municipal parking lot behind The Steel Pub following a report of a group of people using illegal drugs.

(The account and quotations in this article were sourced from the printed Personnel Narrative of Officer Paul Forand and do not reflect any political perspective or personal opinion of News Link Live, which is strictly a business entity.)

Officer Forand arrived to find a large group of people sitting in the lot near the closed parking garage. He also saw a woman, later identified as Lauren Dube, standing beside a vacant building near the electrical service.

Officer Forand said he parked his cruiser and approached Dube, who told him she was charging her phone by using the outlet next to the building.

“The owner of the property has previously contacted the Athol Police Department requesting we remove anyone loitering, as no one is allowed on the property,” Officer Forand said.

While Officer Forand was speaking with Dube, a woman identified as Jessica Howard approached the officer. Officer Forand said he told Howard to walk back to the parking lot, as she was standing near the building and trespassing. After being warned she would be arrested if she refused, Howard eventually left the area and returned to the parking lot.

According to police, Jessica M. Howard, 39, is a resident of Athol, MA.

According to Officer Forand, at this point, Kenneth Brozell approached him to explain why Dube was on the private property. Officer Forand said he ordered Brozell to return to the parking lot multiple times.

“During this time, Howard, from the parking lot area, began to scream obscenities towards the Steele Pub/Exchange Street area,” Officer Forand said. “Howard was screaming, what appeared to be as loud as she could, obscenities such as the following:

• ‘why don’t you go suck some more d*ck’
• ‘f*ck you’
• ‘c*nt’
• ‘whore!’
• ‘I’m going to f*ck you up’

During this time, a large crowd formed on the sidewalk on Exchange Street, due to the screaming. The caller, Wilder, was also on the sidewalk, and most of Howard’s obscenities appeared to be directed at Wilder.”

Officer Forand stated that, at this time, he saw several young children walking on Exchange Street who were “undoubtedly being exposed to these harsh and objectionable statements.”

“Howard was given numerous warnings throughout the interaction that she needs to lower her voice and stop yelling,” Officer Forand said. “Howard, at one point, was even told she would be placed under arrest if she did not stop her aggressive, disturbing, and unreasonable behavior.”

Officer Forand said that since Howard wouldn’t stop her behavior, he approached her and told her she was under arrest for disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.

“Howard initially began to pull away and additional officers had to assist in placing handcuffs on her,” Officer Forand said.

Howard was then handcuffed, placed in the rear of a cruiser, and transported to the Athol Police Department.

“Once at the station, Howard was searched, read Miranda rights, booked, provided phone calls, and placed in secure cell 5,” Officer Forand said. “Bail Commissioner Marianne Kissane set bail at personal recognizance. Howard was later released into her mother’s custody.”

Jessica Howard was charged with the following (Officer Forand’s explanation for the charges are provided in quotations:

• Disorderly Conduct: “for engaging in threatening actions (‘I’m going to f*ck you up’) and excessively unreasonable noise (causing a crowd to form) with no legitimate purpose, that were going to affect the public (downtown area of Athol), and created public annoyance.”
• Disturbing the Peace: “for intentionally engaging in conduct most people would find unreasonable (screaming obscenities listed above where other adults and young children could hear), making threats (‘I’m going to f*ck you up’), and other offensive conduct that did, in fact, annoy and disturb people (people standing on the sidewalk, to include the reporting party, appeared annoyed).”

Howard was arraigned in Orange District Court on June 3, 2025. During her arraignment, Judge Laurie MacLeod, at the Commonwealth’s request, dismissed the disturbing the peace charge. Howard was found guilty of disorderly conduct.

Disclaimer: If you are wondering why the incident in this story took place in June, that’s because I had to file FOIA request(s) to obtain the court documents. FOIAs are time-consuming.

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