Edward Joseph Brown, 27, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to one count of rape connected to an alleged incident at the state police barracks in Oak Bluffs this summer. The case, which involves the Massachusetts State Police barracks on Temahigan Road, has drawn scrutiny over how a visiting civilian came to be housed inside a state law enforcement facility.
From a Downtown Bar to a State Police Bed
The timeline of August 15 began unraveling just before 1 a.m. when county dispatch received two 911 calls reporting a naked woman in the street outside the Temahigan Road barracks. According to statements made by assistant district attorney Courtney Scalise during the arraignment in Edgartown District Court, a person who found the woman transported her to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Responding Oak Bluffs police officers noted visible bruising on her legs and a large red mark on her neck.
A Boston Public Schools security employee is charged with rape following an alleged incident at the State Police barracks on Martha’s Vineyard this summer that ended, prosecutors say, when passersby found a woman naked in the street, screaming for help.https://t.co/mfHzCJPN68 pic.twitter.com/1YkbBH884q
Investigators established that the victim, a woman from Ireland visiting the island, had spent the evening at the Ritz with friends. Prosecutors stated that Brown, visiting the Island and staying with a trooper in the barracks, approached the woman at the bar and attempted to buy her a drink. Surveillance footage from Circuit Avenue later captured a man in a white hat approaching the victim before the two boarded an Uber together. The rideshare driver subsequently told police that a man matching Brown’s description accompanied a woman who appeared highly intoxicated, while the male passenger did not.
The Investigation and the Barracks Search
A bouncer at the Ritz contacted police and said he may have a photo of the suspect from earlier in the summer. Oak Bluffs police matched that image to Brown through Trooper Costello.
When Oak Bluffs investigators executed search warrants for the state police barracks and Brown’s rideshare accounts, they were unable to locate the victim’s clothing or phone. Records confirmed that Brown took an Uber from downtown Oak Bluffs to the barracks at 12:27 a.m. on August 15. Following a joint effort by the Oak Bluffs Police Department and the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, a judge granted an arrest warrant on October 8. Boston police apprehended Brown the following day while he was at Boston Latin Academy.
Courtroom Arguments and Bail Conditions
During the virtual arraignment presided over by Judge Benjamin Barnes, prosecutor Scalise detailed that two former girlfriends had obtained restraining orders against Brown, prompting the district attorney’s office to request $50,000 bail and a GPS monitor. Brown works in the Department of Safety Services for Boston Public Schools as an assistant security administrator, and the school district placed him on administrative leave following his arrest, noting that his position did not involve direct contact with students and that he had passed background checks.
Defense attorney Anthony Ellison pushed back against the state’s bail request, emphasizing his client’s deep family roots in Boston and lack of prior criminal charges. Ellison argued that the defense faces evidentiary hurdles given that the alleged victim has returned to Ireland and reportedly indicated to officers that she was not interested in pursuing criminal charges. Judge Barnes ultimately set bail at $10,000, which Brown’s family pooled resources to pay, while declining to require a GPS monitor. Brown was ordered to have no contact with the victim or witnesses, must check in weekly with probation, and was scheduled to return to court for a pretrial hearing on December 3.
