Interim Police Chief Richard Stanley was exonerated Tuesday of accusations that he made racist remarks during a January arrest. The accuser retracted the claims late last month.

"There is no witness that corroborates any claim of racist or inappropriate behavior by Stanley," said town attorney Richard Bowen, who investigated the matter at the request of the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Mark Andrews and presented his findings at the June 8 meeting of the Board.

According to a Jan. 10 Wareham Police press release, Christian "Spunky" Fernandes and Kendra Dunnington, both 22-years old, were arrested on several drugs and weapons charges after police executed a search warrant at the White Pines Motel on Cranberry Highway.

White Pines owner John D'Italia claimed in a March 25 statement given to the Law Office of Patricia A. McArdle & Associates, that Stanley ordered officers to "Get that [racial expletive] out of here" during a Jan. 8 drug bust at the motel, Bowen said.

Five days later, the Board of Selectmen received a letter from McArdle urging the board to "re-think" its decision to hire Stanley as the full-time police chief.

"If you make Richard Stanley the permanent, full-time Chief of the Town of Wareham, you are knowing participants in this discriminatory and prejudicial scheme of the Chief, and you will be held accountable for said acts in front of the MCAD [Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination] and a Federal jury," McArdle wrote in the letter.

Throughout the course of his investigation, which began in April, Bowen found several discrepancies between the details of D'Italia's statement and his memory of the events. Officers involved told Bowen that they hadn't heard Stanley make racial comments and said that Fernandes was taken from the scene before Stanley arrived, Bowen said.

In an interview with his attorneys present, D'Italia indicated that the event took place in February or March, Bowen said. D'Italia also said that he'd spoken with Andrews about Stanley's alleged comments. Bowen found that though Andrews had spoken with D'Italia, the conversations had to do with permitting requirements for the renovation of the motel, not issues involving Stanley.

Additionally, while Bowen toured the motel on May 14, D'Italia said, in the presence a Wareham Police detective and another witness, that he had not written the original statement. In a subsequent telephone conversation between Bowen and D'Italia, the latter stated that he was "tired of being used as someone else's tool" and that "it got out of hand," Bowen wrote in his report.

In a May 27 e-mail to Bowen, D'Italia withdrew his statement. Bowen wrote: "...even before he dropped his claim, he had impeached the credibility of the statement, and demonstrated a dubious knowledge of the events supposed to have occurred."

The Board apologized to Stanley, who attended the meeting for unrelated reasons, and expressed their disgust for the situation.

"It's very unfortunate, in this day and age, that we have to have issues like this brought up," said Selectmen Chair Jane Donahue. "This is a very, very sad day in the history of Wareham."

Selectman Steve Holmes concurred. "It's not fair to use race to try to cut somebody off at the knees," he said.

Bowen's presentation came after Onset resident Marian Rose, who volunteers with the Wareham Police Department, presented a petition to the Board in support of Stanley, requesting that he be promoted to full-time chief. A total of 578 signatures were collected.

"I was infuriated when this came up," Stanley said, vowing to pursue anyone involved in the matter through a civil case. "One thing I take very seriously is my reputation in the job I do."