The Secretary of State's office has shot down FOX Undercover's request to a get a copy of a report about former Congressional candidate Jeff Perry.
That report is in the hands of the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office, which hired Perry in January as a special sheriff -- a job that's paying him $110,000 a year.
Perry faced scrutiny during the Congressional race about his work as a police supervisor and accusations that he stood by while another officer strip searched a teenage girl.
The sheriff hired a firm to investigate Perry's past and said the investigator was completely satisfied Perry did nothing wrong.
The sheriff's office denied FOX Undercover's public records request for a copy of the investigator's report.
So Mike Beaudet appealed to the Secretary of State's office, which oversees public records in Massachusetts, saying the public has a right to see for itself what the investigation found.
The Secretary of State's office disagreed, saying the sheriff's office can keep its investigation of Perry's background a secret because it's considered a personnel record.
