Boston deputy fire chief charged with rape

By Ryan Kost, Globe Correspondent

A Boston deputy fire chief will be arraigned Wednesday on charges that include kidnapping and assault after a woman accused him of taking her to a park and forcing her to perform sexual acts at gunpoint.

Brockton police arrested Deputy Chief Peter Pearson, 51, of East Bridgewater Monday evening and charged him with aggravated rape, assault with a deadly weapon, impersonating a police officer, and armed kidnapping, said Bridget Norton Middleton, a spokeswoman for the Plymouth County District Attorney.

In early July, after having been detained as a “common night walker,” a woman reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by a highway patrol officer two weeks earlier, Middleton said.

On Monday evening, a man told a uniform patrol officer that he and the woman, his girlfriend, had seen the car involved in the alleged June rape that evening, Middleton said. As the two men were talking, the car passed by.

Brockton police stopped the car and arrested Pearson. While Pearson was detained, the woman came to the police station and told police he was the man who had kidnapped her, said Lieutenant John Crowley, a Brockton Police spokesman.

The Boston Fire Department did not plan to issue a statement until after Wednesday's arraignment, said Steve MacDonald, a department spokesman. He did, however, confirm that Pearson is a deputy chief for Division 2.

Pearson is being held without bail at the Plymouth County House of Correction pending his arraignment. While in police custody, he is on administrative leave without pay, MacDonald said. If he is released, he will still be placed on administrative leave but he will receive pay, MacDonald added.

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