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Barnstable District Attorney Robert Galaboz Reports New Child-Protection, Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Fraud Initiatives; Seeks Local Support for Elder-fraud Grant
Summary
District Attorney Robert Galaboz told the Yarmouth Select Board on May 13 that his office has launched a Child Emergency Response Team, hosted a statewide human-trafficking conference, expanded a fentanyl enforcement policy tied to falling overdose numbers, and secured $1 million to expand a regional incident database; he asked the board to support a $580,000 elder-fraud staffing request.
District Attorney Robert Galaboz briefed the Yarmouth Select Board on May 13 about several public-safety initiatives and asked the board to support a request for state funding to expand investigations into elder fraud.
Galaboz said his office launched a Child Emergency Response Team (CERT) six to seven weeks earlier to speed services and investigations for child victims; the unit has trained more than 60 people at two sessions and has handled five child victims so far. "We're feeling encouraged with the responses that we've had so far," Galaboz said.
He reviewed his office's human-trafficking work, noting a state grant for training that led to a two-day statewide conference April 10'11 with 214 registrants and about 38 presenters from around the country. The conference, Galaboz said, followed an initial roughly $97,000 training grant and a subsequent $100,000 award for the statewide meeting.
On fentanyl enforcement, Galaboz described a policy his office began on the first day of his administration in January 2023: seek to hold people charged in fentanyl trafficking without bail under the "dangerousness statute." He said judges across the district have largely supported the approach and cited local data he presented: comparing 2023 to 2024, nonfatal overdoses fell by about 25 percent and fatal overdoses fell by about 35 percent. Galaboz acknowledged wider Narcan distribution but said the enforcement approach may be producing measurable reductions.
The DA also described a $1,000,000 award from Cape Cod Healthcare to expand SIMS, a critical-incident management database used by local police to record overdose and related incidents. The SIMS expansion will aim to add participating departments (to reach full district coverage), include Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and broaden the database to track interpretive services and housing connections.
Turning to elder fraud, Galaboz said he submitted a proposal for $580,000 to hire two forensic accountants (CPAs), two prosecutors and two victim-witness assistants to help police investigate growing numbers of elder-fraud reports. He said he has 21 of 22 police chiefs supporting the initiative and asked the Select Board to consider a letter to the Cape delegation supporting the funding; the DA noted a delegation letter dated Jan. 13 was included in the board packet. "I've been doing this going around the district," Galaboz said, asking the board to place a support letter on its consent agenda if it wished to back the request.
Select Board members responded with support and staff said they would place the request on a future consent agenda for the board's consideration; no formal board vote on the funding request was taken the same evening.
