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An FBI affidavit filed in the case said Clark, via the use of a burner app that concealed her as the sender, texted 99 messages that were “threatening in nature” to the chief candidate, the candidate’s spouse, and to herself.
In November, the affidavit said, the candidate, identified in court papers only as Individual 1, received “numerous” texts from anonymous numbers threatening to reveal information that would cause Individual 1 “reputational harm,” unless Individual 1 bowed out of the chief search.
Clark, the affidavit continued, told the FBI in January that she also received threatening messages from unknown numbers, and that she feared the investigation was harming her professional reputation and “tearing the city apart.”
Clark was allegedly linked to the threatening texts when records from the burner app administrator, cell service providers, and other sources revealed the messages were sent on numbers purchased on the burner app by Clark, using an Apple device that accessed her home IP address.
The affidavit said Clark in a follow-up interview with the FBI in February told agents she didn’t know who sent the messages and suggested a city employee or one of her own relatives could be responsible.
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She later allegedly admitted to sending the messages herself when confronted by the electronic data pointing to her as the likely culprit, the affidavit stated.
Clark told the agents she sent the messages because she feared her position as superintendent would be negatively affected if Individual 1 got the chief’s job, the affidavit said. She also said she felt Individual 1 had accomplished much based on her work, so she wanted the candidate to be “knocked down a peg.”
Among the texts allegedly sent by Clark were messages that Individual 1 told investigators contained “private material that Individual 1 had previously sent to Clark using his/her personal email account. Individual 1 stated that the only person with whom he/she had shared this information was Clark. … Clark forwarded messages she had received to Individual 1, at least one of which read, ‘have [him/her] bow out.’”
At one point Clark allegedly got personal.
“Clark also showed Individual 1 a text message from an anonymous number containing an image of a photograph depicting Individual 1 and Individual 1′s spouse that was taken at a wedding,” the affidavit said, adding that Clark in December told FBI agents she had “received a text message that contained a photograph of Individual 1 driving Clark’s car near a toll plaza.”
Clark also told FBI agents before allegedly coming clean that one or more of Individual 1′s colleagues, several of whom she named, may be responsible for the threats, according to the affidavit. But once she did allegedly fess up, Clark shed some light on the wedding photo that had popped up in the threatening text chain.
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“Clark found the wedding picture on the Internet and took a picture of it using her cell phone,” the filing said, paraphrasing what she allegedly confessed to investigators. “Clark sent a text message through the burner app containing the picture to the Clark personal cell phone and showed it to Individual 1. Clark told Individual 1 that she did not know who sent the picture to her.”
That’s not all Clark allegedly confessed during an interview with federal authorities on Feb. 7, according to the affidavit.
“Clark used burner apps in her capacity as the Superintendent of Chicopee Public Schools to contact parents of students when they were unresponsive to calls made from a number associated with the public schools,” the affidavit said, paraphrasing her alleged mea culpa.
Chicopee Mayor John L. Vieau said in a separate statement Wednesday that Clark’s arrest was “disheartening,” while vowing that school operations would continue to run smoothly. And he previewed a potentially significant School Committee meeting Wednesday evening.
“This morning, Superintendent of Schools, Lynn Clark was charged and arrested for making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Vieau said in the statement. “The Mayor’s Office is aware of the situation and we are working to ensure that School Department operations continue smoothly through this transition as the education of children remains paramount. Today’s arrest is disheartening for the City of Chicopee. The School Committee will meet tonight in executive session to decide on a proper course of action.”
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The FBI earlier Wednesday was seen searching Clark’s home in Belchertown.
Video footage posted to the website of WWLP-TV showed FBI agents carrying what appeared to be evidence containers from a home on the corner of Oak Ridge and Chestnut drives. Two wreaths and a floral display were visible on the home’s front porch.
Long before Wednesday’s raid on Jan. 23, Clark had e-mailed an FBI agent working the case and appealed to a certain sense of civic pride.
The affidavit said Clark’s e-mail, sent that night at 11:33 p.m., said that “no matter which person, group of people, or individual this [investigation] points to – it was not reported by us and a piece of this was probably self-serving. …. I just feel that nothing and I repeat, nothing – will help me personally. How is this helping the City?”
This is a breaking news story that will be updated when more information is released.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.