Stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight for the first time in more than a decade, the brother of slain Baltimore County Sgt. Bruce Prothero spoke out to set the record straight, he said, about details surrounding his family’s support of a book penned by a candidate vying to be Maryland’s next governor.
Rick Prothero has been a spokesperson for Bruce’s widow, Ann Prothero, for years. He sent FOX45 News a statement following the first story digging into Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Wes Moore, his book The Other Wes Moore, and various claims made by the candidate. Rick Prothero said Ann didn’t want to speak, and asked for privacy, offering a lengthy statement in lieu of an interview.
That changed after Rick Prothero said he heard Moore continue to talk about the Prothero family being in support of the book and double down on claims that he never misled the public about where he was from.
“Wes Moore has come forward and made some comments basically about the accuracy of his book. At that time, it was more than what we wanted to continue to hear without – there’s a lot of misrepresentations about our family in the book – and we wanted to make our statement,” Prothero said. “Wes Moore has done Ann Prothero, her five kids and our kids a great injustice by touting the fact that he has support from our family. That’s not actually the case.”
The author has often said that the endorsement of the Prothero Family is the greatest endorsement he could ever receive – those are his words. Ann Prothero, myself, and most of the family, has never given him an endorsement.
Prothero said he and Ann have both made it clear to Moore and the publishing company that they did not support the book and had no interest in being involved in tributes connected to Bruce or anything else.
In 2007, Prothero said he and Ann were told about the writing of the book and worked swiftly to try and prevent the other Wes Moore, who is serving life in prison for his role in Sgt. Prothero’s death, from speaking out or being involved in the storyline.
When the book tour was in full swing, Moore appeared on ABC’s "The View" in 2010 promoting the publication. During the interview, Moore was asked if the Prothero Family was in support of the book. Because Moore had gone around to other Prothero family members and sought support, Rick said, he was able to say the family supported the book.
“To go on the air and say you had the family endorsement when not only do you not have THE family endorsement, and to make any supporting comments Ann is the primary person in our family and the widow,” he said. “Ann Prothero the surviving widow of my brother and as such, her feelings and her opinions be the most opinion. She’s the highest representation of the family that there is, bar nothing.”
Days following The View appearance, Ann Prothero sent an email to Moore expressing her frustration with what Rick said was the continued misrepresentation.
“Do not misrepresent me on any of your TV, radio or public appearances or I will be forced to publicly contradict you and take whatever necessary action to stop your disingenuous remarks,” she wrote in the email.
Moore did respond and said he respected her position but said he had received support from other members of the family.
“Mainly your in-laws, voicing support for the book, and that’s why I have said ‘many’ members of the family have read the book and expressed their support of its mission,” Moore wrote. “However, going forward I will respect your wishes and when asked, explicitly state that you are not supportive of this book.”
While Sgt. Prothero was killed 22 years ago, Rick said Ann didn’t want to be involved in media or participate in the interview.
“She couldn’t be here with us today because facing the cameras was just more than what she wanted to do,” he said, talking about Ann.
Moore was not available for an interview to discuss the latest comments and frustrations from the Prothero family but did provide a statement to FOX45 News.
“It’s my hope that the story of the other Wes serves as a cautionary tale to help prevent another family from suffering a lifetime of grief and sadness like what the Prothero family has had to endure,” Moore said.
However, she sent a statement to FOX45 News briefly explaining her position regarding the release of the book, saying the publication “has resulted in all the unwanted consequences that I had feared would occur with its writing and publication.”
Now that Moore is campaigning in a crowded Democratic primary, Rick Prothero said he wasn’t surprised to see the effort. Prothero said Moore’s “ambition of this man were well known to our family for a long time.”
Even when the book as being written, and we researched who Wes Moore was we knew this. Our feeling was, part of the writing of this book brought him to the national status that he got by putting out the book,” he said. “In no way should Bruce be part of a gubernatorial race today unless every word of that book and every representation of our family in that book are true.
Moore’s book has been scrutinized for the allegations that Moore wasn’t from Baltimore. In the book, there are references to growing up in Baltimore and spending time in Charm City as a young child. Through a FOX45 News investigation, it was revealed that Moore was born in Washington, D.C., briefly moved to Takoma Park before moving to New York.
While living in the Bronx, Moore attended a prestigious private school before moving to Pennsylvania to attend a premier military academy for high school. It wasn’t until attending Johns Hopkins University did Moore live in Baltimore City limits.
“It’s so easy to tell the truth, it’s so easy just to tell the truth. This is a man who is charismatic, he’s smart, attractive, why you need to embellish the truth or change the truth or modify the truth, I don’t know,” Prothero said. “Attempting to clarification 12 years after the book is really 12 years too late.”
“I feel that probably the truth got in the way of this author’s ambition and his ambition won,” Prothero said.