MANCHESTER, NH – A police investigation into an allegation of criminal slander filed by Alderman Crissy Kantor against a private citizen is complete – without the individual being charged with a crime.
Manchester Police Lt. Thomas DuBois notified Rosanna McMahon by email on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024, that there “does not appear to be sufficient evidence to support a charge of Criminal Defamation.”
DuBois said police came to that conclusion after “speaking with the involved parties and consulting with the City Solicitor’s Office.”
“I think the police conclusion was correct because I’ve committed no crime and I’ve had police weaponized against me,” McMahon said Tuesday morning. “I think it’s illegal and I am seeking legal recourse.”
She said police were “respectful of me but they should never have been roped into this because no crime was committed.”
Alderman-at-Large Joe Kelley Levasseur, who is an attorney representing Kantor, said his client is disappointed in the outcome but that she has two years to bring a slander lawsuit against McMahon.
“Alderman Kantor is disappointed in the city solicitor’s refusal to charge Rosanna McMahon for criminal slander,” he said in an emailed statement. “However, the ward six alderman has once again proven she is a fighter willing to stand up to one of Manchester’s nastiest bullies. McMahon’s malicious allegation that Ms. Kantor stole binders from the 39 Beech St. shelter was a lie. In fact, Ms. Kantor legally received information from a shelter employee concerned about how poorly the shelter was being run. The employee’s concerns were eventually proven right because of the efforts of alderman Kantor and other concerned aldermen. This city needs more people like Crissy Kantor! “
He also said the one thing Manchester “can bet on, is the fact Ms. Kantor will always stand up to people like Rosanna McMahon.”
Kantor contended McMahon defamed her when she allegedly wrote in a social post that Kantor went to the Beech Street shelter and left with a binder containing personal information on guests staying there. Kantor said she only became aware of it on Aug. 30, 2024. McMahon denies ever writing a media post concerning that action.
After Kantor filed her complaint, McMahon asked the state’s Civil Rights Unit in the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and the Hillsborough County Attorney to investigate possible violations of her civil rights by Kantor. She said she has not heard back from either one but will be following up on her complaints.
McMahon said she obtained the information, concerning what Kantor allegedly did, in good faith from a city official, who she declined to identify.
“McMahon accused Kantor of theft,” said Levasseur, emphasizing he was speaking for himself and not Kantor. “That’s the story. Being an elected official means losers like McMahon with nothing to lose can say anything they want and accuse people of crimes and get away with it. Sad day in Manchester and a stark reminder for anyone, especially a business owner not to get involved in politics.”
McMahon denies calling Kantor a thief or writing a social media post containing that information.
Kantor’s allegation dates back to an investigation of a complaint McMahon filed in October 2023. At that time, McMahon in an email to the aldermanic board asked that the city’s Conduct Board review Kantor’s actions in obtaining personal information on guests at the Beech Street shelter. McMahon initially alleged that Kantor went to the shelter and left with a binder containing individuals’ names and beds to which they were assigned.
She was told the complaint had to be notarized to be accepted, and McMahon said she edited that email, omitting the information about the binder.
McMahon maintained Kantor violated the trust of people seeking help and also disregarded their “fundamental rights of privacy” under the state constitution.
According to a summary of the city’s investigation, in August 2023, prior to McMahon filing her complaint, the Manchester Fire Department notified the Solicitor’s Office that Kantor had obtained Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of guests at the shelter. On Aug. 8, 2023, the Solicitor’s Office asked the security manager of the Human Resources Department to investigate the allegation. Interviews were conducted of several witnesses, including employees of Maxim, the company staffing the shelter.
Based on that investigation, the city solicitor wrote a “reasonable person could conclude that Alderwoman Kantor obtained a bed list sheet containing PII of guests of the shelter. Apparently, Alderwoman Kantor requested the list, and a Maxim employee emailed it to her. In August 2023, Maxim’s policy permitted such release to government officials.” The report also said there was no evidence which a “reasonable person could conclude that Alderwoman Kantor disclosed to a third party the confidential information provided by Maxim. Absent evidence of such a disclosure, we find no violation of Section 9.03(c) of the Charter.”
The investigation, however, also found that the state’s privacy laws should have prevented Kantor from obtaining the information in the first place.
McMahon said while there was no information to indicate Kantor had shared the information, Kantor requested information she wasn’t authorized or entitled to receive and obtained PII on the people staying at the Beech Street shelter.
McMahon believes Levasseur is using Kantor to get at her. She said she has endured Levasseur’s harassment and bullying ever since she wrote an Op-Ed published in the New Hampshire Union Leader in August 2023 calling for his removal from the board.
McMahon said that Levasseur has used his show, “The Will and Joe Show” aired on the city’s public television station, to bully and intimidate her ever since.
On the show, Levasseur talks of his support for Kantor and has labeled McMahon a “nut” and a “useful idiot.”
When he put an enlarged photograph of McMahon on three screens behind him in one broadcast, McMahon said she filed a complaint with the city for him using her copyrighted image. Levasseur, McMahon said, was placed on probation for a year because of it.
In his broadcasts, McMahon said Levasseur has told his viewers he wants to know where she works, has asked his audience to provide personal information about her, and said he “has a file on” her.
McMahon, in a letter last month to the aldermanic board, asked they review Levasseur’s conduct for abuse of power and retaliation in another incident. She alleged Levasseur retaliated against a resident who made a sarcastic remark concerning the attempted assassination of Trump this past summer. Levasseur, she said, on social media called on his followers to contact the employer of Scott Hartford, resulting in the man losing his job. And, she said, Levasseur has admitted to talking with Hartford’s employer.
“This admission further highlights the misuse of his position to personally target and harm a member of the public thereby failing to uphold the ethical standards mandated by the City Charter,” she wrote.
She asked the board to censure him to serve as a “clear message that such conduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
McMahon said at the end of the day, “when abuse of authority goes unchecked, it only escalates and we’re all at risk.”
She said if “unethical behavior had a face, it would be Joe Kelly Levasseur.”
