What we know about the probe into sex abuse allegations against former Boston police union boss Patrick Roseby Travis Andersen
Globe Staff
Updated April 12, 2021, 10:35 a.m.
Patrick M. Rose Sr., the former Boston police union president, holds up a memo in June of 2016 as he testifies during a hearing on body camera use at Suffolk Superior Court. JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFFThe Boston Globe reported over the weekend that Patrick M. Rose Sr., the former Boston police union president who’s currently jailed on child sex abuse charges, was accused previously of molesting a 12-year-old boy in 1995, a case that was ultimately dropped in court, though an internal affairs probe at the time concluded he likely committed a crime.
Despite that internal finding, Rose remained on the force until his retirement in 2018, and after the initial charges were filed last summer, five more people came forward to accuse him of abusing them as children. Here’s what we know so far about the allegations against the former head of the Police Department’s largest union.
1] Current charges — Rose currently faces 33 counts in Suffolk Superior Court of sexual abuse of six children ranging in age from 7 to 16. For security reasons, he is being held in the Berkshire County Jail in Pittsfield on $200,000 cash bail.
His attorney, William J. Keefe, said in a recent interview that Rose maintains his innocence.
“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,” Keefe said.
2] Connection between current case and prior probe in 1995 — One of the accusers in the current case is the daughter of the man who had accused Rose of sexually assaulting him in the 1990s, when the man was 12, the Globe reported.
A Globe investigation found the Boston Police Department in 1995 filed a criminal complaint against Rose for sexual assault on a 12-year-old. Prosecutors dismissed Rose’s criminal case on May 7, 1996, after the accuser in that matter recanted his story under pressure from Rose, according to court records and authorities.
3] Questions regarding the initial police response in 1995 — Following the 1996 dismissal of the criminal case, the Police Department conducted its own internal affairs investigation into Rose, which is standard protocol for any police employee accused of misconduct.
At the conclusion of the in-house review, internal affairs “sustained” the administrative charges against Rose, meaning investigators found “sufficient evidence to support the allegations,” records show. The department has declined to disclose what, if any, disciplinary action it took, or whether Rose was placed on leave during the investigation.
4] Current status of the pending criminal case — Rose pleaded not guilty to all charges in December in Suffolk Superior Court. Should he post the $200,000 bail, he’ll have to submit to GPS monitoring with an “exclusion zone” around his accusers’ homes, according to legal filings. He’ll also be required to surrender all firearms and his license to carry, have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, and give up his passport and not apply for another one, records show.
The next court date on Rose’s docket is May 4, when a number of pre-trial motions are due. A trial date hasn’t been set.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.