Updated Sept. 10, 4:55 pm.
Massachusetts State Police said they are cooperating with a local investigation into a reported sexual assault by suspects who allegedly stayed a night at the state agency’s Oak Bluffs barracks when the incident occurred late last month.
The two individuals involved in the incident remain unnamed, and State Police said the two aren’t affiliated with the department.
According to State Police, an individual alleged that a woman was assaulted by someone who was visiting a trooper assigned to the Island for the summer. The agency has opened an internal affairs investigation that will follow the results of the criminal process.
“At the end of August, the Massachusetts State Police became aware of a reported sexual assault involving two people not affiliated with the department,” a State Police spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. “We are fully cooperating with the local police’s investigation into the matter, and remain committed to pursuing justice in every sexual assault case. To protect the integrity of the investigation, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle confirmed in a Thursday afternoon statement that the town department had launched an investigation. Searle said his department “responded to a report involving a woman in distress and immediately initiated an investigation.”
“Through the course of the investigation, officers determined that the matter involved an alleged sexual assault and developed information indicating that the alleged assault occurred at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Oak Bluffs,” the statement shared with The Times reads.
Searle clarified that the investigation by Oak Bluffs Police is independent from the Massachusetts State Police’s internal investigation.
“The Oak Bluffs Police Department is a separate and independent law enforcement agency from the Massachusetts State Police and, from the beginning, has conducted this investigation independently and in accordance with the department’s established policies and procedures,” Searle said in the statement.
The Oak Bluffs Police received a warrant for the investigation, including a warrant executed at the State Police barracks.
“The Massachusetts State Police General Headquarters has cooperated with matters related to the investigation. The department also has been in communication with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office regarding the investigation and findings,” Searle said in the statement.
“The Oak Bluffs Police Department takes allegations of sexual assault extremely seriously. Our investigators have followed the facts and evidence in this case, and we will continue to conduct this investigation thoroughly and independently,” he continued.
The official State Police website page for the Oak Bluffs barracks, which functions as living quarters for officers stationed on Island, located at 51 Temahigan Road, states that there is guest parking and directs the public to call for hours of operation at the station, but doesn’t clarify whether guest civilians are allowed to stay overnight or not. A Boston Globe article from 2018 said that sergeants have lived at the Oak Bluffs barracks, and on Nantucket, station commanders have occupied their building with family as official employee housing.
Officials haven’t responded to requests for comment regarding barracks policy on overnight visitors.
Departments involved in the case, including the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment further as investigations are ongoing.
State law around sexual assault investigations prohibit what the agency can disclose in order to protect the parties involved as well as the integrity of the investigation and criminal process.
No charges have been announced in the case.
Editor’s note: This article was updated with statements released by the Oak Bluffs Police.
Release his name.