Boston fire official charged with attacking three more women

August 27, 2008 04:59 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Jonnelle Marte, Globe Correspondent

Three more women have stepped forward and claimed that they were attacked by a Boston deputy fire chief who has already been charged with allegedly posing as a state trooper and raping or attempting to rape three women in Brockton.

All six claim that Peter Pearson impersonated a police officer during the attacks. At least four say he flashed a gun.

Pearson, 51, will be arraigned next Wednesday in Brockton District Court on the new set of charges, which include rape, kidnapping, impersonating a police officer, and assault with a dangerous weapon, said Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton. A judge will determine if he should be released on bail.

Pearson’s attorney, Kevin J. Reddington, said the new claims lack credibility because the victims were found in a Middlesex detention center.

“If you drag a $100 bill across the prison floor and a get-out-of-jail-free card” you’ll attract more allegations, said Reddington. “This is to the point now where the credibility of this situation is out of control.”

Reddington said he plans to summon the alleged victims to testify under oath at the arraignment and insisted that his client should be granted bail.

“He’s a family man, a community man, a deputy fire chief … decorated,” he said. “They could place him on an ankle bracelet subject to home confinement.”

Pearson was arrested Aug. 18 for a rape that he allegedly committed in June. He was released on $50,000 bail. He was arrested again Friday for a second rape and charged with a third over the weekend. The latter two rapes allegedly happened in 2003 and 2005. Pearson pleaded not guilty to a variety of charges.

The three new victims claimed they were attacked in 1997, 2000, and 2002, said Middleton.

Prosecutors say Pearson followed a pattern during the alleged attacks: he 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.

Prosecutors said earlier this week that the first three women who claimed Pearson had attacked them had, at some point, worked as prostitutes.