Aidan Kearney

Writing career As a hobby, Kearney started an online blog called AidanFromWorcester.com, where he posted on a variety of issues. After he resigned from teaching, Turtleboy is a nickname for the Burnside Fountain in Worcester, which he began using upon the suggestion of a former student.

As Turtleboy After founding the online publication Turtleboy Sports, Kearney wrote investigative articles anonymously under the pen name Uncle Turtleboy and Clarence Woods Emerson. He grew the site into a team of contributors who contributed articles anonymously under a variety of pseudonyms. In 2015, his identity was unmasked and he began openly using the Turtleboy alias in his writing.

In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union provided legal defense for Kearney in a case against a Rhode Island judge who ordered the removal of "any and all posts, blogs, and comments" regarding a person who sued him for libel. The case cited a violation of the First Amendment. It was dismissed in September, 2020, on the grounds that the Rhode Island court had no jurisdiction over a Massachusetts company that did not do business in Rhode Island.

Investigative reporting

Massachusetts State Police scandal In 2018, Kearney covered alleged misconduct within the Massachusetts State Police regarding a K-9 trooper's history of drug dealing and money laundering. In the early 2000s, the trooper participated in a large scale marijuana business run by her then-live-in boyfriend. The trooper failed to disclose this criminal activity when applying for the State Police, but was uncovered during a testimony against her former boyfriend. The uncovering of this information led the State Police to implementing new background checks and hiring protocols. Because of her criminal history and subsequent dishonorable discharge from the force, cases she participated in during her tenure were called into question. Three District Attorney cases were thrown out due to her involvement.

Commonwealth vs. Karen Read

In April 2023, Kearney began covering the case of Massachusetts resident Karen Read, who was accused of killing her boyfriend John O'Keefe, an officer of the Boston Police Department, by hitting him with her car outside of a home in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022. Kearney supported Read's claim that she did not hit O'Keefe and was being framed for his death. Kearney organized protests in Canton in support of Read, including at related pre-trial hearings, where he coined the phrase "Free Karen Read". The case garnered national attention as the result of Kearney's coverage of the case in a series called Canton Coverup and due to an investigation into the prosecution of the case by the office of U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy.

On June 18, 2025, Read was found not guilty on the three major charges; the jury did find her guilty of the lesser charge of OUI, for which she received a sentence of one year's probation. Following the outcome of the case, Kearney received praise from Rachael Rollins, former United States Attorney for Massachusetts, in a post on X—"His relentless reporting — in the face of repeatedly being told by law enforcement that he was wrong & there was 'nothing to see here' – cracked this case wide open."

Legal issues In December 2023, Kearney was indicted on "eight counts of witness intimidation, three counts of conspiracy to intimidate witnesses, and five counts of picketing a witness" related to the Read case. Initially released on bail, Kearney's bail was revoked after he was accused of assaulting a former girlfriend who had received a summons to appear before a grand jury related to the witness intimidation charges.

On May 13, 2025, a grand jury in Dedham, Massachusetts, indicted Kearney on two additional counts of witness intimidation, two months after he stopped by a pizza shop owned by two of the trial witnesses and caused disruption. Later in May, a judge dismissed six out of a total of 16 counts of witness intimidation that Kearney had been indicted for.

In June 2025, Kearney was found not guilty of violating a restraining order that had been obtained by his former girlfriend, stemming from an incident in February 2024 when he was covering the Read case at the Norfolk County Courthouse and his former girlfriend went to the courthouse with a friend. In October 2025, the Norfolk County district attorney's office dropped an intimidation charge that had been lodged against Kearney, while noting that "two dockets against Adian Kearney continue to be prosecuted".

Awards and recognition Under the Turtleboy Sports name, Kearney has won four Worcester Magazine Best of Worcester awards, winning Best Local Blog in 2015 and 2016 as well as Best Local News Source in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Turtleboy was also among five nominees to be selected for The Valley Patriots First Amendment Award, a designation given to those who have "made a significant difference in holding public officials accountable, fought for transparency in government, and gone above and beyond the call of duty to defend and protect our right of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion, and/or has been a whistle-blower against corruption".

Kearney has been a recurring guest with Howie Carr on The Howie Carr Show. Kearney has also been featured on Court TV to provide commentary on the Karen Read case and Kearney's own felony witness intimidation charges related to the investigation of the case.