Edward Joseph Brown, 27, of Boston was arraigned on Tuesday in Edgartown District Court, and pleaded not guilty to a felony rape charge. The charge stems from an Oak Bluffs Police investigation into a reported sexual assault by a suspect who allegedly stayed at the Massachusetts State Police’s barracks on Temahigan Road in Oak Bluffs this summer.
The investigation began after a woman was found lying in the street outside the State Police barracks in the early hours of August 15; people found her and drove her to the hospital, where she was interviewed by Oak Bluffs Police, the prosecutor stated in the arraignment.
Police and prosecutors say the case is still developing. According to the prosecutor, Brown works in the Department of Safety Services for Boston Public Schools (BPS), and was at work at Boston Latin Academy in Roxbury as an assistant security administrator when he was arrested last Friday by Boston Police; he is currently held at the Dukes County Correctional Facility as of Wednesday at 10:30 am. He comes from a family that his attorney, Anthony R. Ellison, said is prominent in the Boston area. The alleged victim isn’t from the U.S., and is back in her home country of Ireland.
Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle previously told The Times in a statement Sept. 10 that the department launched an investigation after they “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 continued. Searle told reporters Wednesday that he can’t currently comment further on the investigation, and directed inquiries to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office.
In Massachusetts, local police, like the Oak Bluffs department, investigate crimes and initiate charges, but the cases are prosecuted through the District Attorney’s Office, who said they couldn’t comment further.
Brown and the alleged victim aren’t affiliated with the department, but Brown was on a trip to visit Massachusetts State Police Trooper Ryan Costello, who was assigned to the Island for the summer, at the time of the alleged incident, according to a statement read out by Assistant District Attorney Courtney Scalice during an arraignment hearing at 3 pm Tuesday. Separately, the state department also opened an internal affairs investigation. State Police didn’t respond to a request for comment by print deadline.
Scalice presented a statement of facts to the courtroom via Zoom on Tuesday, and said in the early hours of August 15, based on exterior surveillance video from Circuit Avenue, a male in a white cap approached the alleged victim, and the two got into an Uber together. A bouncer from the Ritz reached out to police on August 23 and said he might have a photo of the suspect from earlier in the summer. The bouncer didn’t know the suspect’s name, but did know the suspect was friends with State Police troopers. The photo depicted a taller, heavier-set male, Scalice said, and another woman whom Oak Bluffs Police officers knew by name, and knew as someone who used to date Costello.
Oak Bluffs Police reached Costello over text and through a phone call on August 29. He confirmed that he knew the subject of the photo from college as Brown, and that he was from Boston and visited the weekend of August 15 and stayed at the Oak Bluffs barracks. He told officers that they’d gone to the Ritz the night of August 14, but there was a time that night when Costello didn’t know where Brown was.
On August 29, Scalice said Oak Bluffs Police officers spoke to Ben deBettencourt, who said that between August 14 and the early hours of August 15, he was with his girlfriend, Costello, and Brown at the Ritz, and saw Brown “having a friendly conversation” with a girl who had the same hair color as the alleged victim. DeBettencourt said he left the bar before Costello and Brown. The next day, on August 15, deBettencourt and his girlfriend went over to Costello’s living quarters at the barracks, and Costello asked deBettencourt to bring Brown to the Steamship Authority ferry, a ride in which he said Brown was abnormally quiet. DeBettencourt gave police Brown’s cell phone number, according to Scalice.
Oak Bluffs Police executed a search warrant on Sept. 1 at the State Police barracks to locate the alleged victim’s clothing and cell phone; the clothing has still not been located, Scalice said, as of Tuesday, Oct. 13.
The Oak Bluffs barracks, located at 51 Temahigan Road, are living quarters for officers stationed on-Island. According to the official State Police website, there is guest parking, and the public is directed to call for hours of operation at the station, but the website doesn’t clarify whether civilian guests are allowed to stay overnight or not.
Greg Turner, media relations director for Massachusetts State Police, didn’t respond to requests for comment about an overnight guest policy for the barracks by print deadline.
Police were also granted search warrants for Brown’s Lyft and Uber accounts, Scalice said. They found a trip around 12:27 am that ended at the State Police barracks. The Uber driver was interviewed by police and said that he picked up a male, who matched Brown’s description and didn’t appear intoxicated, and a female, who appeared very intoxicated.
Around Sept. 11, Costello’s attorney provided the commonwealth with screenshots of text messages between Costello and Brown on the night of the incident and the next day. Via text, Brown told Costello that he was with a female and said he went to Costello’s roommate’s room for condoms.
Costello was interviewed by the Cape and Island’s District Attorney’s Office with his attorney, a Massachusetts State Police Union representative, and other members of law enforcement in the room on Sept. 25. He said he left the Ritz before Brown and returned to the barracks between 1:30 and 2 am. He said Brown was there alone, but unusually quiet. Other text messages to Costello from Brown said that Brown was naked on the couch with a girl and said she was too drunk and needed an Uber. Brown also said when he came back from the bathroom, the girl was gone, and the doors were open. There was a one-hour gap in texts, which Costello said occurred when he talked to Brown in-person, but Brown then said he went to the barracks by himself and sent the alleged victim home in an Uber. Costello revealed Brown’s job to investigators, and Oak Bluffs Police reached out to the Boston Police’s Anti-Corruption Division.
Boston Police located four police reports from March to August 2026 from two of Brown’s ex-girlfriends, both of whom have restraining orders against Brown. One of the orders remains active, Scalice said.
Oak Bluffs Police detectives were granted search warrants on Oct. 8 for Brown’s cell phone, cell site location information, and a buccal swab for a DNA sample as well as an arrest warrant.
He was arrested on Oct. 9 by Boston Police at Boston Latin Academy, where he works and where officers found what they thought was cocaine in Brown’s wallet. Scalice said Brown should receive a summons to appear before another district court for that charge. The commonwealth requested a $50,000 cash bail as well as no contact with the alleged victim and witnesses, which include other State Police officers, GPS, and that he remain drug- and alcohol-free.
Ellison, Brown’s attorney, said there is no flight risk for Brown, who knew about the allegations early on, and didn’t leave the state and went to work daily as assistant security administrator at BPS, a position he’s held for two years. He said there hasn’t been a violation of the restraining orders. BPS said in a statement to The Times Wednesday that they placed Brown on administrative leave.
Brown is a graduate of Fitchburg State College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice, as well as Lasalle University in Newton, where he earned a master’s in criminal justice, according to Ellison.
Ellison said that the alleged victim doesn’t want to pursue charges, and has various accounts of what happened, and her friends said she was “very friendly” with Brown. He said that they have to find out what the SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) kit reveals. Danielle Whitney, director of public relations for the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office, said they remain in ongoing communication with the victim. Ellison told The Times he wouldn’t comment before the arraignment Tuesday, and didn’t respond to calls Wednesday.
Brown pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was released on several conditions: a stay away and no contact order with the alleged victim and any potential witnesses, turn over any firearms to Boston Police, a $10,000 cash bail, which Brown has not posted as of Wednesday at 10:30 am, and checking in with probation once a week. Judge Benjamin C. Barnes set no GPS monitoring and no random alcohol testing for Brown. Ellison added that when Brown was served the restraining orders in the spring and summer, Boston Police already seized firearms that were in his possession.
There is a pretrial hearing scheduled for Dec. 3 at the Edgartown District Courthouse.
