After more than a month with no action whatsoever, U.S. Attorneys have filed a charging document against Revere Police Officer Todd Randall – a document that often replaces an indictment.
Randall is accused in the document only of lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators who were looking into municipal corruption – specifically incidents of “fixing†cases in district court.
FBI agents arrested Randall at his home in April, and he last appeared in federal court on May 18.
In a quick and uneventful proceeding that day, prosecutors indicated that Randall had not been arraigned or indicted yet. A judge indicated that there was a time frame for taking either step.
However, nothing happened for more than a month until last week.
On June 24 and June 27, prosecutors filed an “Information†charging document against Randall. Federal Judge Rya Zobel has been assigned to the case. Judge Zobel was appointed by Jimmy Carter and has been serving on the bench since 1979.
The recent document charges Randall with one count of making a false statement to FBI investigators on March 24 when they were interviewing him about a case they had put together.
Prosecutors seem to have taken an unusual step in choosing not to indict Randall, but rather just issue an Information.
One of the more well publicized uses of the Information was in 2009 when federal prosecutors issued an Information on disgraced financier Bernie Madoff.
That came because Madoff waived his right to a grand jury indictment.
According to the federal court rules, an Information serves the same purpose as an indictment and allows the case to progress to the next step. Often, when issuing an Information, it means the next step is a plea deal that has already been worked out and agreed to by all parties.
Sometimes, though, that next step is an arraignment and then the progression of hearings that lead up to a jury trial.
It is uncertain which step Randall and his attorney, Tim Flaherty, will take.
On May 18, Randall did waive his right to a probable cause hearing, but it is uncertain if he has done the same with his right to a grand jury indictment.
Nothing further has been scheduled in the case.
On a side note, federal public records also showed that Randall has filed for bankruptcy over the years numerous times, including a Chapter 13 bankruptcy case that is still open.
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