Fire official is charged in third sex assault
Alleged attacks show pattern, prosecutors say
Prosecutors say the three women's allegations follow a rough pattern: Boston Deputy Fire Chief Peter Pearson drove through Brockton, picked up a woman in his car, pretended he was a police officer, and forced the victim to perform sex acts on him.
Two of the women say he flashed a gun, according to prosecutors.
After being charged last week in one of the alleged attacks, Pearson pleaded not guilty yesterday to rape, armed kidnapping, impersonating a police officer, and other charges in the two other alleged assaults. Prosecutors say the alleged attacks took place within the past five years.
A Brockton police source said yesterday that at least 10 more women have come forward with similar allegations against Pearson, but prosecutors would not comment on whether Pearson might face more charges.
"I would say this matter remains an active and ongoing investigation," Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said after the arraignment in Brockton District Court.
During the hearing, Kevin J. Reddington, Pearson's lawyer, drew a different parallel between the three cases: "These individuals have one common trait: They're all prostitutes," he said.
Reddington said news coverage spurred the second and third women to falsely charge Pearson, a longtime firefighter whose family and friends were in court yesterday but declined to comment after the arraignment. "You know what happens when any person is brought into a court by a very public case," Reddington said.
He also pointed out that the alleged rapes happened as long as five years ago.
Cruz said that time frame is common in rape cases. "Delayed disclosure is not unusual," he said after the arraignment. "I expect inconsistencies. That doesn't mean somebody's not telling the truth."
Each woman had at one point worked as a prostitute, prosecutors said. Cruz said Pearson had preyed on the women, whom Cruz described as vulnerable people.
The first woman to levy charges reported the rape in July, the month after it happened, after Brockton police detained her as a "common night walker," authorities said last week.
Pearson, 51, of East Bridgewater, was arrested Aug. 18, after the woman's boyfriend told a police officer in Brockton that they had just seen the man who raped her in June.
Police pulled over and arrested Pearson, who pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated rape, assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, and impersonating a police officer. Released on $50,000 bail, he was rearrested Friday, after a second woman came forward and said he had raped her in spring 2003.
Pearson was charged with another rape over the weekend, after a third woman told police he had raped her in February 2005.Both women came forward after seeing news reports of Pearson's initial arrest, prosecutors said.
In court yesterday, prosecutor Sharon E. Donatelle said the second woman, who was 36 at the time of the alleged assault, had been walking down Main Street in spring 2003 when she noticed a light-blue car circling her. The man driving, whom the woman recently identified as Pearson, told her he was a state trooper and ordered her into the car, where she saw a badge and a large portable radio, Donatelle said.
Pearson then drove for 15 minutes before stopping in a secluded parking area at Brockton Hospital, where he showed the woman a gun, Donatelle said. "He kept repeating that he was an undercover state trooper," she said.
Then, Donatelle said, he ordered the woman to pull down her pants and sexually assaulted her. He then forced her to perform a sex act on him.
In February of 2005, Donatelle said, another woman, then 34, was walking to a friend's house in Brockton at dusk when she noticed a white, beat-up four-door car following her. After she found that no one was home at her friend's house, the man pulled up to her, Donatelle said.
According to a police report, the woman told police she occasionally worked as a prostitute to make money for drugs; Donatelle said the woman got in the car and agreed to perform a sex act on him, but did not discuss money.
After she acknowledged she was an addict, Pearson drove to nearby Avon and told the woman he was head of the Brockton narcotics task force for the State Police, Donatelle said. He parked in an empty lot, exposed himself and forced the woman to perform a sex act on him, the prosecutor said.
Pearson, a deputy chief in the Boston Fire Department, is the latest Boston firefighter arrested in the past year after allegedly soliciting drugs, sex, or committing other offenses. Department officials said Pearson has been placed on administrative leave without pay.
Pearson was held yesterday, pending a dangerousness hearing tomorrow, at which authorities are expected to determine whether he qualifies for bail.
Milton J. Valencia of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maddie Hanna can be reached at mhanna@globe.com. 