- A former Boston patrolman is facing charges for allegedly sexually assaulting minors.
- The Boston Police Department knew of allegations since 1995, the Boston Globe reported.
- Last summer, six minors came forward with new allegations of abuse against Patrick M. Rose Sr.
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The Boston Police Department knew its union leader had previous allegations of sexual assault against a minor before a man and his daughter went to a police station last summer to report she had been molested, the Boston Globe reported.
In 1995, the father had also alleged Patrick M. Rose Sr. assaulted him when he was 12 years old. The police department at the time filed a criminal complaint against Rose and investigated the accusations. They found that it was likely that Rose had committed a crime.
The boy was reportedly pressured to recant his story and the criminal investigation was dropped in 1996, but a police internal affairs investigation continued and found that Rose broke the law.
Additionally, court records showed that after the criminal case was dropped, Rose’s abuse of the boy continued and also “escalated,” but the department has not said what disciplinary action if any was taken.
Despite this, he was still able to keep his badge and work as a patrolman for 21 more years, and also served as the head of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association from 2014 until he retired in 2018, the Globe reported.
Rose was arrested in August of last year after the daughter’s allegations. Since then, five more people have come forward with allegations against him.
Mass Live reported last August that the girl, now 14, alleged she was repeatedly assaulted by Rose between the ages of 7 and 12.
He’s now in jail and faces 33 counts of sexual abuse. The six victims range from 7 to 16 years old.
Three of the victims who came forward said Rose assaulted them in the 1990s and another said the assault took place in recent years, Mass Live reported.
“My client maintains his innocence to all of the charges that have been brought against him and he maintains his innocence to what was alleged to have transpired back in 1995,” his attorney, William J. Keefe, told the Globe.
The Boston Police Department did not reply to Insider’s request for comment at the time of publication.
The Globe learned that despite the known allegations and internal review results, Rose was still allowed contact with children in his role, in some cases being dispatched to assist minors in sexual assault cases.
In 1999 he was sent to help a 14-year-old girl who called police crying, reporting that she’d been raped. He was also the arresting officer in a 2006 child sex assault case.
“What we’re describing here is an example of an institutional and systemic failure,” former Boston police lieutenant Tom Nolan told the Globe. “The department had a responsibility to ensure that this individual was no longer employed in the ranks of the Boston Police Department.”
Rose is currently being held in the Berkshire County Jail on $200,000 cash bail.
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