By Janet Stoica

At Webster’s Planning Board Meeting on September 30 various building projects were discussed including an alleged fraudulent engineering plan received by the board on behalf of the Reverend Kalimbiro Akeem Bujiriri who is the main contact for the proposed refugee center and church at 0 Rosemont Street, Webster.

When Rev. Bujiriri appeared before the board, chair Paul LaFramboise, asked him, “Would you like to address that this plan was submitted fraudulently by signing an engineer’s name who was not working on the project or do you not want to address that?  

Rev. Bujiriri replied “I’d like to address that. What we did because we did not have much time. We had been working under pressure and we forgot to put dates and some of the documents were not signed properly. I just received some information while I was coming to this meeting.”

LaFramboise said “You need to answer my question. You don’t have an engineer?” and then asked the pastor if he could look at the screen behind him showing a document that was signed and stamped from Professional Engineer Matthew Copeland who is a Registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts.   Ann Morgan, Webster’s Director of Planning and Economic Development, stated “This is a plan that was just submitted. Mr. Copeland told us this is not his seal or signature.” It was dated Sept. 27, 2024.

Rev. Bujiriri then said that “the document was from a previous time.”  LaFramboise countered that “this document is from three days ago.” Rev. Bujiriri then told LaFramboise that “He sent me another plan three days ago.”  

“The engineer stated that this is fraudulent. This is not his stamp nor his signature,” Morgan stated.  LaFramboise asked Rev. Bujiriri, “Who signed that form?” The pastor’s response was “I don’t know.”

Chairman LaFramboise ended the discussion by telling Rev. Bujiriri “You need to figure out who signed that form before you appear before this board.”

A letter dated Sept. 28, 2024 from Engineer Matthew Copeland to Webster’s consulting engineer, Chuck Eaton, stated that “I have no involvement, currently or in the past, with the project at 0 Rosemont Street. The use of my credentials on these documents is fraudulent. I did not prepare these documents nor did I authorize the use of my credentials.  I have also reported this matter to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors today and will be following up with the board on next actions.”