Discipline hearing for busted cop

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott Police Officer Thomas Wrenn, who was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency, will face a disciplinary hearing.The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday night to hold a disciplinary hearing based on the recommendation of Chief Ronald Madigan.Madigan suspended Wrenn, who has been with the department since 1998, for five working days without pay beginning March 16 and placed him on administrative leave without pay until further notice. The Board of Selectmen must administer any suspension of more than five days, which is the appointing authority.Town Administrator Andrew Maylor said Madigan recommended the Board of Selectmen take additional action up to and including termination. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to hold a disciplinary hearing and appointed Town Administrator Andrew Maylor to act as the hearing officer.Wrenn, 37, 17 Prospect St., Nahant was arrested late Thursday night in Lynn and was charged in a criminal complaint with possession with intent to distribute oxycodone.DEA agents working with Swampscott police arrested Wrenn Thursday night after he allegedly purchased a quantity of Percocet pills from one of his regular suppliers.According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan’s Office, federal agents knew of the planned transaction and took Wrenn into custody shortly after he took possession of 50 tabs of Percocet from a dealer.According to the affidavit, there was at least one incident where Wrenn negotiated a drug deal while in uniform.The affidavit also details a party at the Wrenn home in Nahant where Wrenn, who on numerous occasions referred to Percocet and Vicodin as “Pez,” used a toy belonging to his child to dispense the pills.”Wrenn jokingly loaded his child’s candy Pez dispenser with Percocet or Vicodin pills and then dispensed the pills from the toy Pez dispenser,” the affidavit reads.According to the affidavit, a Batman Pez dispenser was found in his police locker and a second Pez dispenser was found in a bag in his bedroom.During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston on Friday, Wrenn pleaded innocent and was released on a $15,000 bond. He was also ordered to surrender his passport and weapons. He is also required to submit to random drug testing and he was ordered not to leave eastern Massachusetts or sail more than a mile offshore. He was also instructed not to have any contact with any witnesses in the case.The town went through a similar process a couple of years ago when former Police Lt. Peter Cassidy was arrested in Vermont for drunk driving. Cassidy, who was terminated, is still fighting his termination.