By Milton J. Valencia
The Boston Globe
BOSTON — The police investigation of a Boston deputy fire chief accused of rape focused on a Jamaica Plain firehouse yesterday, after detectives trying to open his locker found it had been tampered with under suspicious circumstances.
Detectives have turned the area around the locker of Deputy Fire Chief Peter Pearson into a crime scene to determine whether any of the tampering was criminal in nature. “There was some concern [that] there was suspicious activity,” said police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll.
She said Boston detectives were working in cooperation with Brockton police to execute a search warrant on Pearson’s locker in relation to an investigation into allegations he forced a prostitute at gunpoint to perform sexual acts on him at a park in Brockton.
Detectives arriving at the firehouse on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain were told by fire personnel that they had trouble finding the key to the locker. Detectives asked to see the locker anyway and found the key was jammed into the lock, indicating someone might have tampered with it, Driscoll said.
She said police then conducted an extensive investigation into the lock and the surrounding area, setting up a crime scene to determine whether anyone had tampered with the locker. She could not say whether police opened the locker yesterday.
“It’s just an active investigation at this point,” Driscoll said.
Steve MacDonald, a Fire Department spokesman, referred all questions to police.
The arrest of Pearson and the new development in the investigation is the latest setback for a department that has been under criticism.
Yesterday, Fire Department brass declined to reinstate Firefighter Albert Arroyo, who had refused to return to work after he was ordered to do so following reports that he participated in a bodybuilding competition while out on disability leave.
Also, federal authorities have opened an investigation into possible abuse of the disability retirement system. As part of that probe, authorities are investigating the suspicious disappearance of documents.
In addition, individual firefighters have been arrested in separate instances, keeping the department under a negative light. In May, a Boston firefighter was charged with trying to engage in sex for a fee, and in April another firefighter on disability leave was charged with illegally buying $200 worth of painkillers. In March, a firefighter was charged with smoking marijuana in a department vehicle.
The firefighters’ union has also come under pressure over a city proposal to have firefighters submit to random drug testing. Two firefighters died battling a blaze last year, and one was found to be legally drunk and the other had traces of cocaine in his system.
Pearson, 51, a 23-year veteran firefighter, was arrested Monday on charges he stalked a prostitute for three weeks before he posed as a police officer, took her to a park, and forced her to perform sexual acts on him at gunpoint. The alleged attak occurred in June. Pearson was arrested after the woman saw him and reported his whereabouts to police.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated rape, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and impersonating a police officer. He has posted $50,000 cash bail and must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet pending trial.
Copyright 2008, The Boston Globe