A new investigation from the Provincetown Independent reveals some potential issues within the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office under DA Robert Galibois.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke with the reporter, Tyler Jager, to learn more.
Gilda Geist Let's start with this letter signed by nine former employees of the DA's office under Galibois. What does the letter say and who are the signers?
Tyler Jager So the letter, which was released to several Cape Cod newspapers in June, flags a number of concerns about the victim witness unit in the DA's office over the past three years under Galibois's tenure, referring to a change in priorities in terms of the amount of time spent working directly with victims and constant turnover at the office. The letter signers are all female employees who were rehired by Galibois when he assumed office in January 2023. So, they worked for the former DA as well, Michael O'Keefe. And most of them are former victim witness advocates or administrative assistants in that office, several of them for decades. And one signer was also an assistant district attorney.
GG What claims from the letter were you able to verify in your reporting?
TJ One of the letter's central claims about turnover is verifiable. We were able to find that [of] the 14 people listed as employed victim witness advocates in 2023, only three are still listed on the payroll. And the number of victim witness advocates employed over the course of a calendar year has appeared to drop significantly. So, that number was as high as 18 victim witness advocates in 2024 and has now dropped down to nine. We also found that one thing that's not disputed is there was a major policy shift that happened in this office that put several of the longtime employees at odds with the new administration. And that was making these advocates responsible for new categories of victims, in particular private businesses who reported crimes like vandalism or larceny, and police officers and correctional officers who reported being assaulted on the job or reported being victims of other kinds of crimes.
GG What does DA Galibois have to say about the claims in the letter?
TJ We interviewed the district attorney and his first assistant district attorney. He said this policy change, he believed, was required under state law and that formerly victims of crimes like businesses and police officers weren't being notified of their rights. And he said that part of this turnover was some people who were longtime employees did not want to get on board with the program, as it were, with a new district attorney. This was also a change in parties. The former district attorney was a Republican. And Galibois took steps to professionalize the office, including hiring an HR [human resources] director [and] requiring performance reviews. That did create some friction compared to the culture of the office beforehand. So, some of that turnover he attributed to those changes. It's important to note the letter signers endorsed his Democratic primary challenger in the letter. There's no hiding the fact that it is a political letter. And Galibois said that the timing of the letter—which was sent soon after his challenger, Michael Giardino, submitted papers to appear on the ballot—was politically suspect. One of the signers is involved in [Giardino's] campaign. She's the campaign treasurer. For what it is worth, we did also interview Giardino, who said that the women signed and wrote the letter of their own accord, and several of the women are not involved with the campaign. Others are.
GG You spoke to some crime victims and their family members for this story. What did they tell you about their experiences with the DA's office under Galibois?
TJ Yes, we spoke to four different crime victims who were all victims in a different kind of way of different kinds of crimes. And they reported a range of experiences with the victims unit of the DA's office, and some of them were really positive. They said that they felt the advocates handling their cases were patient and were very forthcoming about what was happening in their cases, but also that there were major delays in terms of establishing that contact, as well as in the case of a hit and run in Wellfleet, just a lack of information provided to the family of the 24-year-old killed in that incident last year. Another case we followed in Provincetown over the past three years was when four Bulgarian J-1 [visa] student workers were allegedly assaulted by an innkeeper in town in 2023. None of those four students were ever able to testify in that innkeeper's trial because they were not notified it was happening. They'd already gone back to Bulgaria, and in the absence of testimony from those victims, the innkeeper was found not guilty. So at least one of those students feels he was also denied an opportunity to be able to apply for a U visa—which is available for victims of certain serious crimes—because he could not show that he would have cooperated with law enforcement.
Read Tyler's full story in the Provincetown Independent.
Tune in to CAI on Thursday, August 13 at 9 AM to hear a debate between Galibois and Giardino. You can submit questions starting at 9:20 by calling 866-999-4626 or by emailing thepoint@capeandislands.org.
