Massachusetts CCC Investigations And Enforcement Director Nomxolisi Jones Resigns With No Notice Amid Reports Staff Were Targeted By A PI-Firm, With State Funding, For “Leaking” To This Reporter | Cannabis Law Report

I was getting worried about the Massachusetts CCC we hadn’t had a drama from there for at least a fortnight!

Massachusetts CCC Investigations And Enforcement Director Nomxolisi Jones Resigns With No Notice Amid Reports Staff Were Targeted By A PI-Firm, With State Funding, For “Leaking” To This Reporter

The Chief of Investigations and Enforcement at the Massachusetts CCC, Nomxolisi Jones, quit the agency with no notice last Thursday amid reports that Jones hired at least one PI firm to investigate her own staff, and others within the CCC, for leaks to this reporter.

The CCC, itself, retained that PI firm in late 2024 (which means then-existing leadership approved the CCC targeting its own staff for attempting to blow the whistle about serious allegations of corruption, abuse and misconduct in the agency – the very thing Chair Shannon O’Brien was trying to reform in 2023 when she was “taken out” by her own leadership team, although O’Brien is now back at the agency and, alongside Commissioner Kimberly Roy, cleaning house like a towel with a purpose).

From what I understand, there was a large team meeting circa the fall of 2024, led by Ms. Jones and her assistant Roque Roso. The entire investigations division of the I and E department was present at that meeting when, Ms. Jones threatened all of them that she would be hiring a PI firm to find out who was leaking information “if it was the last thing that she did.” Jones also said she would “deal with whoever the leak was to the fullest extent possible.”

There was no direct mention as to the specific “leaks” in question, and Jones simply referred to “the leak” (of note, however; at this time, I was reporting, intensely, on a battle for the soul of the agency that, later in 2025, culminated in Chair O’Brien’s return to the CCC and the departure of nearly every member of leadership involved in her initial departure).

There are also concerns that multiple investigations overseen by Jones never went anywhere and were never prosecuted by the agency (including investigations related to pesticides diversion/inventory concerns)

Per reports on social media, also made public early Monday, Jones may have also been involved with “harassment/abuse” and “making staff perform personal tasks for her family.”

Jones, just months ago, was awarded an award for “leadership and mentoring in state government.” However, Jones was also one of the last holdovers remaining from the old guard at the CCC who, over the past few years, were swept from office after this reporter exposed a wide-ranging ring of leadership staff at the CCC who were undermining the agency, and covering up serious misconduct and abuse, at a now-slowly-reviewing regulatory juggernaut. Read more about that background here – https://lnkd.in/etmG6VZB

The CCC did not comment on the matter when reached prior to publication, however, as a matter of policy, the agency does not comment on personnel matters.

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Original story (please cite if you use this material) – https://lnkd.in/e6Xbbd57