LYNNFIELD — The curious case of “The Naked Firefighter” as if came to be known, appears to have turned its final page.
John Walsh, 60, who served on the Lynnfield Fire Department since 1979, will be officially retired as of Jan. 1, 2020.
According to the Essex Regional Retirement System (ERSS) which administers the public pension system for the Town of Lynnfield and 46 other local entities, Walsh will collect an annual pension benefit of $58,278.
His retirement brings the bizarre incident to a close, much to the relief of Lynnfield Board of Selectmen Chairman, Phil Crawford.
“He will technically be retired as of Jan. 1,” said Crawford. “We didn’t have grounds to yank his pension, but ultimately we didn’t have to do too much as he put himself in a predicament of his own doing. His decision to retire after being arrested on that charge saved us from having to go through a long, drawn-out process.
“It kind of went away on its own, it just took care of itself so there weren’t any real issues and he just kind of went away.”
Walsh was arrested for disorderly conduct On April 3, 2019 after allegedly walking into a 7-Eleven store in Middleton, R.I. and purchasing a soda naked. He was arrested about a mile away from the store while in a black Mercedes Benz with his girlfriend, 27-year-old Tammy McDougal.
The clerk behind the counter was visibly upset by the incident, the police report stated.
“She had tears in her eyes and said she was horrified at the sight of a naked man,” wrote the officer.
The report further stated that the clerk “went into shock” and that she called the police because she thought the man might assault her.
According to the arresting officer, Walsh and McDougal did not dispute the clerk’s version of the incident and when asked why he was stopped, admitted to being naked.
“He told me it was probably because he went into the store to buy a Diet Coke with no clothes on,” the officer wrote in the report. “When I asked him if he was completely naked when he went into 7-Eleven, he said, yes, because he believed it was legal in Rhode Island, and his girlfriend, seated in the passenger seat, dared him to.”
He pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $1,000 bail. A trial date was scheduled, but Walsh never made it that far after he changed his plea.
But shortly after the arrest, Walsh, who was put on administrative paid leave, did a flip-flop, repeatedly asserting his innocence.
“It’s true that I got arrested, but I’m not guilty, I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said in an interview with Daily Item a couple of weeks after the incident.
In October, Walsh was sentenced to 10 hours of community service, which he was credited for having already served at a Lynn soup kitchen. He was ordered to make a $500 donation to the Lucy’s Hearth charity, write a letter of apology and pay $96.75 in court fees and costs.
Crawford said the last day Walsh put in on with the Fire Department was the day before he was arrested.
“He just never came back to work after the incident, and, frankly, we never really allowed him to come back,” Crawford said. “After being put on paid leave, he just used all the accrued time he had left.”
