A Boston Public Schools security official accused of raping a woman he met at a Martha’s Vineyard bar had previously been the subject of disturbing complaints from former girlfriends, according to reports.
Edward J. Brown, 27, the school district’s assistant director of security, was arrested last Friday. Prosecutors allege he assaulted a woman after bringing her from a bar to a Massachusetts State Police barracks on the island on August 15.
During Brown’s arraignment, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Courtney Scalice told the Edgartown District Court that he forced himself on the woman at the barracks, grabbing her by the neck and raping her as she “kicked and screamed,” the Boston Globe reported.
Scalice said the woman managed to escape by running down two flights of stairs, telling the court that she “ran for her life as fast as she could.”
She was later discovered naked beside the road, crying out for assistance. Brown entered a not-guilty plea, and a judge set bail at $10,000 in cash.
Brown’s attorney, Anthony R. Ellison, said relatives provided the bail money. Brown was released later that same day.
The rape charge follows earlier accusations involving two former girlfriends. Both women reportedly said Brown continued contacting them repeatedly, even after they blocked his phone number.
The women sought restraining orders in Dorchester Municipal Court, telling officials they were afraid for their safety. As part of those civil cases, Brown was also required to surrender his firearms.
Edward J. Brown, 27, was arrested last Friday after prosecutors accused him of raping a woman he allegedly brought from a Martha’s Vineyard bar on August 15.
Prosecutors said the woman told investigators she was at Oak Bluffs dive bar Ritz Cafe (pictured) when a man bought her a drink. She later recalled waking up in an unfamiliar bed.
According to Scalice, the woman told police she had been at the Ritz Cafe in Oak Bluffs when a man wearing a white cap tapped her on the backside and purchased a drink for her.
Prosecutors said she remembered little afterward, other than waking up naked and lying facedown on a bed she did not recognize.
The woman allegedly created an opportunity to get away by asking Brown for a glass of water, then fled the room.
Ellison characterized the encounter as a “private matter,” according to the Boston Globe.
The attorney also said the woman, who is currently in Ireland, had not expressed an intention to seek criminal charges.
Brown was staying on Martha’s Vineyard while visiting his friend, State Police trooper Ryan Costello, when the alleged assault occurred.
Costello told investigators that Brown appeared unusually subdued at about 1:30 a.m. on August 15.
He also said Brown gave conflicting accounts about his interaction with the woman at the bar.
In a police interview, Costello reportedly said Brown first insisted that the woman had never accompanied him to the barracks.
Brown later allegedly changed his account, acknowledging that she had gone back with him but claiming she stayed only a short time.
Finally, prosecutors claimed Costello said Brown told him that he left the woman in the Uber because she was too drunk.
Prosecutors alleged Brown raped the woman at the State Police barracks (pictured) while she was ‘kicking and screaming’
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Brown, who works as a Boston Public Schools assistant director of security, recently had two ex-girlfriends obtain restraining orders against him
The first restraining order against Brown was filed in May, with the woman claiming she began casually dating Brown after they met late last year.
She became worried that Brown ‘showed signs of having a problem with alcohol and would become confrontational when he would consume it,’ per an affidavit cited by the Globe.
Brown allegedly became aggressive after drinking at a bar in South Boston, according to the woman.
He allegedly held on to her arm when she attempted to walk away and tried to ‘physically move [her] body in a forceful way,’ per the reported legal documents.
One day later, the woman found a Facebook post and comments suggesting that Brown ‘displayed aggressive and stalker like behavior to other women in the past.’
She told Brown she wanted to stop talking and blocked his number, but he allegedly continued going to the same places she did.
That allegedly included driving by her gym, according to the reported affidavit.
On June 2, the woman testified that Brown would call her ‘over and over and over again in the middle of the night,’ which she called a ‘scare tactic.’
Brown’s lawyer argued that the run-ins were only coincidental because the two socialized in similar circles.
The order eventually expired after the judge said he was confident Brown was ‘aware of the consequences that could befall him if further incidents occur.’
The ex-girlfriends said that Brown had harassed them even after they were no longer in a relationship with him
The second restraining order was filed on August 3 by a separate ex-girlfriend, who said she and Brown broke up about three years prior.
She claimed Brown was using a ‘no-caller ID phone number’ to call her ‘excessively.’
‘Usually like every weekend when he’s drinking,’ she said, per the reported filing.
The woman also told the court during a hearing that she was scared because she knew Brown had a ‘firearm.’
She told the court Brown had strangled her once before, on top of being physically and verbally abusive while they were dating.
Dan O’Connell, who represented Brown in that case, argued that the calls were not threatening.
He added that Brown did not plan to keep reaching out to his ex-girlfriend ‘in the near or distant future.’
Brown is scheduled to return to court on December 3 for a pretrial hearing.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Brown’s lawyer, Ellison, for comment.