SWAMPSCOTT — Lane Forman, the man accused of breaking into Gov. Charlie Baker’s Swampscott home last week, asserted in court that the governor had given him permission to be there.
Forman, 59, of Danvers, was arraigned in Lynn District Court last Friday, two days after he allegedly broke into the governor’s Monument Avenue house while First Lady Lauren Baker and the couple’s daughter were home.
Forman, who opted to represent himself during the arraignment, told the court he knew Baker personally, and did not believe that he had done anything wrong when he entered the home to drop off a package for the governor.
He claimed that he had also had permission, this time from State Police, when he dropped off another package at the governor’s home about a month and a half ago.
“Why are you dropping off a package at the governor’s house?” District Court Judge Cesar A. Archilla asked him during the arraignment. “Go to the State House.”
When Forman responded by saying that the State House was closed because of the pandemic, Archilla said: “so you go to his house?”
“Yes, he knows me personally,” said Forman.
To which, Archilla replied, “so, you went to the guy’s residence to drop packages off at his house like it’s Amazon?”
According to the police report, Forman pulled into the driveway of Baker’s residence on Wednesday, Oct. 7 shortly after 2:30 p.m. He then allegedly proceeded to exit his vehicle, walk up the side walkway to the side door of the house, and open the unlocked exterior door, which is an interior entryway leading to the kitchen.
Once inside, police said Forman left a yellow manila envelope on the interior floor of the home, addressed to Gov. Baker and containing a letter that was also addressed to Baker, along with several other documents and photos.
“It should be noted that the First Lady and daughter were home inside the residence at the time of the incident,” the police report said.
According to the report, State Police Sgt. Nathan Thomas saw the vehicle pull into the driveway and alerted other uniformed detail officers as a man exited the car and walked to the side door of the residence.
Police said Thomas crossed the street and identified the man as Forman, who is known to State Police assigned to Baker’s home through previous contact over the years.
When Thomas asked Forman what his business at Baker’s home was, he allegedly replied “Don’t (expletive) with me. Charlie told me to drop this off,” and then continued to back out of the driveway and leave the area, according to the report.
Forman, a former long-time Marblehead resident, claimed Baker had told him during a fireworks display in Swampscott one year that “if you have anything you need, come by my house and ask me anything.”
He also claimed that he used to referee the basketball games that Baker’s son played during his school days, but Archilla said the governor’s son had played football in Swampscott.
According to Forman, he dropped off another package at Baker’s home about six weeks ago. That time, he said he had been given permission from one of the state police troopers who had been stationed in front of the home.
“I left the secretary a message a month and a half ago,” said Forman. “I did the same thing. I pulled up to the state trooper in front and asked him: is it OK if I leave this in the side door? He said fine. The trooper came to the side door a month and a half ago. We slid it under the door.”
The assertion that a state trooper had permitted such an encounter was met with some doubt from Archilla, who said, “so you’re telling me that a state trooper allowed you to slip something under the governor’s door? Do you have the trooper’s name by any chance?”
Forman said he thought the trooper’s name was Donovan, but that he wasn’t positive.
“It’s just a misunderstanding,” said Forman. “If you’d talk to Gov. Baker, he’d tell you he knows (Lane) Forman and he knew my mother and father very well. And I won’t go by anymore.”
Forman denied swearing at the officer during his arraignment, telling the court that he told him that he was dropping off a packet “of what happened to my mother.” He said his mother had died at a nursing home after contracting a urinary infection that staff had “let” turn into sepsis and E. coli, which led to her kidneys shutting down.
“So, I filed a complaint with the State Police at the Attorney General’s office which Gov. Baker told me to do,” said Forman. “So, all I did was, I never heard back from the complaint, so I dropped off to his house a copy of the pictures of what happened to my mother and the police report that I filed with the State Police and I slid it under the side door just like I did last time.”
Bail was set at $5,000 and Forman was ordered by the court to stay away from the governor, his family and his Monument Avenue home. He has been fitted with a GPS monitoring device and ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. He is scheduled to return to court for a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 4, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
In requesting a probation warrant, State Police cited Forman’s lengthy criminal history, which includes approximately 44 entries and spans from 1986 to 2018. Police said that record includes a “lengthy violent criminal history,” which consists of approximately 14 entries for violent offenses.
Police said Forman has a criminal history of threatening, stalking and harassing behavior that includes approximately five similar offenses, and has a history of court defaults.
Prosecutors said during Forman’s arraignment that he was already on probation for criminal harassment and annoying phone calls, a case the defendant said was out of Boston Municipal Court.
“I’m a nice person,” said Forman. “I understand not to go there anymore. I won’t go there anymore. My feelings are hurt because Charlie does know me personally.”
Representatives from the governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about whether the incident has impacted security at Baker’s home and a State Police spokesman declined comment, saying that “for security reasons, the Massachusetts State Police do not release details about executive protection operations.”