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Former Boston police union president charged with 16 new sex offenses

Patrick Rose covered his face during his arraignment Aug. 13.David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

A former head of Boston’s largest police union, already charged with sexually assaulting a young girl, was arraigned Tuesday on 16 additional sex offenses related to four new alleged victims, according to prosecutors and court filings.

Patrick M. Rose, 66, was arraigned Tuesday in the West Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court on 11 counts of rape of a child and five counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, the office of Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement.

A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Rose’s lawyer did not return voice and e-mail messages seeking comment.

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One of the new cases occurred within the last two years, and the other three date back to the 1990s, the district attorney’s office said.

Rollins called Rose’s alleged behavior “unconscionable.”

“There is nothing more horrible and depraved than sexually abusing a child, and in this case it is made even more unfathomable that the defendant is a former member of law enforcement,” Rollins said in the statement. “He actually swore an oath to protect victims from harm, instead he was preying on and harming our most vulnerable and innocent, young children.

Judge Kathleen Coffey increased Rose’s bail to $270,000, the DA’s office said. Previous restrictions on his release remain in place, including requirements that Rose stay away from the alleged victims; avoid unsupervised contact with children under 16; surrender his passport, guns, and gun license; and wear a GPS monitor, according to prosecutors.

Rollins asked that anyone with information that could aid the investigation contact the Suffolk County State Police Detectives Unit at 617-727-8817.

Rose, a retired police officer, was arraigned Aug. 13 in the same courthouse on nine counts including one count of aggravated rape of a child and five counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

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Prosecutors said during the Aug. 13 hearing that an alleged victim had come forward earlier this month to report that Rose began abusing her when she was about 7 and continued until she was about 12.

The child and her father went to Boston police Aug. 2, according to a police report.


Prosecutors called the allegations “quite heinous” during the Aug. 13 arraignment, and Coffey said at the time that the case was “sad and serious.” Rose’s attorney at the time emphasized his military and law enforcement background, saying “his entire life has been dedicated to service.”

Rose retired in 2018 after 24 years with the Boston Police Department, spending three of his final years as president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the department’s largest union.

Rollins said after the Aug. 13 arraignment that authorities “are going to be looking deeply into this because this is a broken trust. This is a broken trust not only within this family that is deeply impacted by this, but with the community and this individual.”

Tonya Alanez of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.


Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him @jeremycfox.