Ex Police Chief Sues Town

Wayland- One year after final payment of his six-figure settlement former Wayland Police Chief Sean Gibbons is seeking further compensation from Wayland residents. Gibbons filed a civil lawsuit against the Town of Wayland, former Town Administrator John Bugbee, former Select Board member David Watkins, and Acting Police Chief Edward Burman, alleging multiple violations including breach of contract, unlawful interference and defamation. The suit was filed in Middlesex Superior Court on April 2, 2025.

In the complaint, Gibbons alleges that the Town and several officials violated a settlement agreement causing reputational and financial harm which derailed multiple job opportunities. The settlement was made after the Town hired an outside law firm to investigate the claims made against Gibbons.

Sean Gibbons was appointed permanent Police Chief on December 20, 2021. He began working for the Wayland Police Department in 2002 and was promoted through the ranks. In March 2022, allegations were raised against Gibbons, including a decade-old sexual encounter with another officer. Gibbons ultimately agreed to voluntarily resign as part of a negotiated settlement agreement in November 2022. Gibbons alleges in the legal complaint that the Town agreed to provide only a neutral reference to prospective employers, limited to dates of employment, positions held and salary. The written agreement also included a non-disparagement clause, barring both parties from making statements that would harm the other’s reputation according to the suite papers.

The complaint alleges that despite the settlement terms, the Town issued a public press release and later posted both the settlement agreement and the confidential investigative report to the Town’s website, social media and email lists. These disclosures, according to the lawsuit, violated both the confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses of the agreement. The complaint also asserts that the information published in the report contained “numerous salacious and false allegations”. According to the filing, Town officials also provided the report to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission, although this was not a requirement at the time. Gibbons alleges in the complaint that this furthered the harm to his professional standing. The lawsuit details specific incidents in which the publication of the investigative report allegedly cost Gibbons’ potential jobs. According to the complaint, Gibbons alleges that he had a verbal offer from a local college which was rescinded and that he was not hired by a town in another state because of the Town’s alleged negative disclosures.

The Complaint states that Gibbons, through legal counsel, sent a cease-and-desist notice in September 2024 to the Town demanding the removal of the investigative report from public websites. It also stated that on October 10, 2024, Town Manager Michael McCall informed Gibbons’ counsel that the redacted report had been removed from the Town’s website and that the Select Board reaffirmed its commitment to the settlement terms. However, the suit papers allege that Gibbons’ legal team later found that the report was still available through other public web links, prompting another complaint to the Town.

According to the complaint, McCall again confirmed on October 28, 2024 that additional links, including one on WaylandPortal.com, had been taken down, and reiterated the Select Board’s commitment to the agreement. Despite these actions, the lawsuit claims that the alleged continued online presence of the report into late 2024 further violated the agreement and harmed Gibbons’ job prospects, suggesting ongoing negligence or insufficient oversight by the Select Board during that period.

Gibbons is seeking compensatory damages for lost wages and emotional distress, reinstatement to his former role, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and other relief as deemed appropriate by the court. He has requested a jury trial.

As of this publication, no public response has been issued by the Town of Wayland or the individual defendants named in the lawsuit. The case is now pending before the Middlesex Superior Court.