Overview
- State Police placed troopers Ryan Costello and Robert Branca on paid suspension on Thursday as part of an internal affairs review tied to an alleged August sexual assault near the Oak Bluffs barracks.
- Prosecutors charged Edward J. Brown, a 27-year-old Boston Public Schools security supervisor, with rape after the woman was found unclothed and seeking help outside the barracks on Aug. 15.
- Brown pleaded not guilty at his Edgartown arraignment and is free on $10,000 bail while Boston Public Schools has placed him on administrative leave.
- Investigators have continued to gather evidence, including seizing cellphones and reviewing phone and text records that prosecutors say show Brown stayed overnight with a trooper friend at the barracks.
- State Police Superintendent Col. Geoffrey Noble has banned overnight guests at seasonal trooper housing on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket and ordered written visitor approval and constant accompaniment in non-public barracks areas.