Via Feministe and Feministing:
A 19-year-old prostitute feared that no one would believe her if she said an off-duty Boston police officer kept forcing her to perform sex in his car. So one night, she fled his car with a key piece of evidence: his badge.
It was a bold move, the woman’s lawyer said yesterday. And later, the lawyer said, when Officer Michael LoPriore called the woman to get his badge back, the FBI was listening, too.
LoPriore, 37, of Everett, was charged in federal court yesterday with depriving the woman of her rights by using his position as a police officer to coerce her to perform sex in September 2004.
LoPriore apparently had a history of complaints against him involving his treatment of women during the course of his duties (and of course he refused to wear a condom during the coerced oral sex). From the time of this incident in 2004 until his appearance in court today he has been confined to restricted duties – clerical work inside a station with no permit to carry a firearm.
A plea agreement has been filed:
LoPriore, a 12-year Boston police veteran, will plead guilty, resign from the department, and never seek another job as a police officer in Massachusetts.
Good for her for thinking of this as a way to end her situation. How appalling that this was the only avenue she felt was open to her.
Categories: ethics & philosophy, gender & feminism, law & order
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The officer in this case got off disturbingly lightly.
The defence is seeking to have the plea accepted as above without the officer having to serve prison time. I’m pretty sure the prosecution will ask him to serve some time, even though it will likely only be a year or so.
I hope they can make it stick.