After five long years in prison, most of it at Fort Devens Federal Medical Center, a United States federal prison in Massachusetts, John Tighe is scheduled to be released on July 8.
Tighe is to be transported by US Marshals to Albany County jail and will be released from there, reportedly later Wednesday. He has served his sentence and is undergoing the last few days of a required 14-day quarantine before being released.
It is unclear why he is not being released directly from Fort Devens but, instead, being transferred to Albany County while still in custody.
Tighe may very well be one of the greatest victims of Nxivm, with five years in prison on what increasingly appears to be a frame-up by Keith Raniere and his Nxivm minions.
Here are the facts:
His house was raided in October 2013, on suspicion that he had trespassed into Nxivm’s website.
The New York State Police – including one Senior Investigator, Rodger Kirsopp, who had worked closely with Clare Bronfman and her attorneys – seized all of John’s computers. From that point forward, all those computers were held by the NYS Police.
Then, a funny thing happened. After the New York State Police had held his computers for several months, they “found” child porn on one of them.
There were supposedly lots of child porn files – but all of them were apparently downloaded onto the one computer at the same time on the same day. Many of those files were never opened – and none of them were ever shared with anyone else.
The NYS Police and FBI did a thorough search of John’s Facebook and Twitter messages – and all of his email accounts – looking for other evidence of his involvement with child pornography. They found absolutely nothing.
None of this fits the profile of a child porn user. But no matter.
The Nxivm crowd had been accused in the past of planting key loggers and other malware on enemies’ computers. But no matter.
Nxivm had several members who were assigned to hack into the computers of people that had been designated as “enemies” — and John was definitely considered an “enemy” (Nxivm tried to have him arrested at several events – and once accused him of trying to poison the water at the Silver Bay resort that hosted Vanguard Week). But no matter.
John was charged with possessing child porn. He was arrested and faced 20 years in federal prison.
It’s a complicated story. But consider this: The computer where the child porn was “found” may not have been one of the computers seized from John’s house. And even if the computer in question did belong to John, the child porn could have been planted on it before or after it was seized by the NYS Police.
In the inventory of the items that were seized from John’s house, the NYS Police listed a Mac computer. But John never owned a Mac computer.
Unfortunately, a forensic investigation is now out of the question since, rather conveniently, all of the seized computers were apparently destroyed by the NYS Police.
Charged with the most odious of crimes and facing 20 years in federal prison, John was offered a plea deal by the feds: plead guilty to one count and face a maximum of a 5-year sentence.
John didn’t have the $100,000 his attorney would require in order to go to trial – and his attorney told him he would likely get a sentence of one-year-and-a-day if he took the plea deal. So, he took the proffered deal on the condition that he be assigned to a prison with a medical center. [He had small bowel cancer at the time].
Just like all the people who pleaded guilty in the Nxivm trial, John had to wait several months until he was sentenced. During that period, his attorney requested that he be placed on probation rather than receiving any prison sentence. The prosecution asked for a 5-year sentence.
The judge sentenced John to 5-years. Since arriving there, John also developed liver cancer – and was treated for that. He is on the official list for a liver transplant. He lost over 50 pounds since he first arrived at Fort Devens. He was also badly injured in a scalding accident while working there.
None of this changes the fact that he may have been framed. Even the fact that being in a prison with a medical center that may have saved his life does not change the fact the John Tighe may be an innocent man.
If John was framed, it may not have been Clare Bronfman and Keith Raniere alone who did it. They likely had help and if they did, that help likely involves some sort of public corruption.
This is something that the Department of Justice [in the Northern District at least] will likely be unwilling to investigate because one or more of their own might have been involved. First and foremost, the DOJ has to protect its own reputation. A special prosecutor is probably needed to properly investigate this matter.
During the trial of Keith Raniere, we learned a lot about him and the lengths he was willing to go to silence his enemies. Is that only the tip of the iceberg?
With Bronfman wealth and a small town like Albany, which is known worldwide as the corrupt capital of the most corrupt state, it is not an impossible reach to think that John was framed.
Did John take a plea deal to save his life and avoid the risk of serving 20 years? I think he did.
Meantime, John will be out next week. It is not known, but it appears very likely that he will be required to register as a sex offender, so his punishment continues.
Of one thing John can be happy about. While his punishment in prison is about to end, Keith Raniere, the man who sent him there, has only just begun his punishment.
Mr. and Mrs. Tighe.
John will be returning to his home in Saratoga Springs and to his faithful wife. May they experience the joy and happiness that they were robbed of by a monstrous man and his monstrous cult.
I think it is important to note that among those who fought and helped in the takedown of Keith Raniere and Nxivm, John was way up on the list. His Saratoga in Decline website was a force for exposing Nxivm and was the precursor of the Frank Report. I believe, knowing Clare Bronfman and Keith Raniere, that John was framed and once he is freed, Frank Report will be available to interview him, get his side of the story, and, hopefully, to help exonerate him one day.
He has that coming and if he is, as I believe him to be, innocent, we all – who were harmed by Nxivm – owe him our support and to help in his exoneration.
Good luck, John. Glad you will soon be back with us!
