Massachusetts Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Escape ICE Arrest Indicted, Federal Authorities Say

A Massachusetts judge and court officer accused of helping an illegal immigrant flee an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting to take him into custody were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for obstruction of justice and three other counts, officials said.

Newton District Court Judge Shelley M. Richmond Joseph and the court officer, identified in court documents as Wesley MacGregor, face several charges stemming from an April 2, 2018 incident in which the pair allegedly helped Jose Medina-Perez get out of the courthouse via a back door in order to elude the ICE agent who sought Medina-Perez.

“This case is about the rule of law. The allegations in today’s indictment involve obstruction by a sitting judge, that is intentional interference with the enforcement of federal law, and that is a crime,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said Thursday.

Joseph and MacGregor were both charged with obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting; obstruction of a federal proceeding, aiding and abetting and conspiracy to obstruct justice, Lelling said. MacGregor was also charged with perjury before a federal grand jury.

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Medina-Perez, a twice-deported illegal immigrant with a fugitive warrant for drunken driving in Pennsylvania, had been in Joseph’s courtroom in order to be arraigned on drug charges, the Boston Globe previously reported.

Medina-Perez was the subject of an ICE detainer — a written request to hold an individual wanted for deportation for up to 48 hours — and an ICE agent was waiting in the lobby of the courthouse to detain Medina-Perez after the arraignment, officials said. But during the hearing, Joseph asked Medina-Perez’s attorney “ICE is going to get him?,” according to courtroom recordings obtained by the Boston Globe in December and released in court documents Thursday.

Medina-Perez’s lawyer was also heard telling Joseph “ICE will pick him up if he walks out the front door. But I think the best thing for us to do is clear the fugitive issue and release him on a personal, and hope that he can avoid ICE…That’s the best I can do.”

“What if we detain him?” the judge asked before requesting the clerk to turn off the courtroom’s audio recorder, leaving nearly a minute unrecorded.

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MacGregor then used his security access card to escort Medina-Perez out of the courthouse without being seen by the ICE agent, officials said.

“With the recorder off, defendant Joseph and the Defense Attorney discussed devising a way to have A.S. [Medina-Perez] avoid being arrested by the ICE officer,” court documents stated.

The ICE agent continued to wait in the lobby not knowing the illegal immigrant already left the building, Lelling said, adding Joseph lied about the incident to her superiors when asked about it.

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Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement the indictment “is a radical and politically-motivated attack on our state and the independence of our courts.”

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