A Boston Public Schools security official facing a rape charge on Martha’s Vineyard had previously been the subject of disturbing allegations made by two former girlfriends, according to reports.
Edward J. Brown, 27, the school district’s assistant director of security, was arrested last Friday. Prosecutors allege he raped a woman after bringing her from a bar to a Massachusetts State Police barracks on Martha’s Vineyard on August 15.
During Brown’s arraignment, Cape and Islands Assistant District Attorney Courtney Scalice told Edgartown District Court that Brown allegedly attacked the woman at the barracks, gripping her neck and raping her as she was “kicking and screaming,” the Boston Globe reported.
Scalice said the woman managed to escape and “ran for her life as fast as she could,” fleeing down two flights of stairs from the barracks.
She was later discovered naked beside the road, shouting for assistance. Brown pleaded not guilty, and a judge set bail at $10,000 in cash.
Brown’s attorney, Anthony R. Ellison, said the defendant’s family provided the bail money. Brown was released later that same day.
The rape allegation came after two former girlfriends accused Brown of harassing them. They said he continued calling even after they blocked his number, according to the report.
Both women sought restraining orders in Dorchester Municipal Court, telling officials they were afraid for their safety. As part of those civil proceedings, Brown was also ordered to surrender his firearms.
Edward J. Brown, 27, was arrested last Friday after allegedly raping a woman he brought from a Martha’s Vineyard bar to a State Police barracks on August 15
Prosecutors said the woman told investigators she had been at the Ritz Cafe in Oak Bluffs, pictured, when a man bought her a drink. She later remembered waking up in an unfamiliar bed
According to Scalice, the woman told investigators she was at the Ritz Cafe, a dive bar in Oak Bluffs, when a man wearing a white cap patted her on the buttocks and bought her a drink.
Prosecutors said she remembered little afterward, recalling only that she woke up naked and facedown in an unfamiliar bed.
The woman allegedly created an opportunity to leave by asking Brown for water, then fled the room.
Ellison characterized the incident as a “private matter,” according to the outlet.
The attorney also said the woman, who is currently in Ireland, had not expressed an intention to pursue criminal charges.
Brown was staying on Martha’s Vineyard as a guest of his friend, state trooper Ryan Costello, when the alleged rape occurred.
Costello told investigators that Brown appeared unusually quiet at about 1:30 a.m. on August 15.
He also said Brown gave conflicting accounts about what had happened with the woman at the bar.
In a police interview, Costello said Brown first denied that the woman had accompanied him to the barracks.
Brown later allegedly acknowledged that she had gone back with him, but claimed she had stayed only briefly.
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.
Our News Outlet has reached out to Brown’s lawyer, Ellison, for comment.
