By Sandy Quadros Bowles
The Standard-Times
WAREHAM, Mass. — A 51-year-old retired Lakeville Fire Department lieutenant was indicted Friday on charges he supplied a part-time Lakeville firefighter with alcohol and then raped and assaulted him on two separate occasions.
A Plymouth County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Thomas W. Dunlevy of Lakeville with two counts each of rape and procuring alcohol to a minor, and one count each of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, assault and battery, intimidation of a witness and attempted rape, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said.
The indictments stem from two separate incidents involving Dunlevy and the same victim, a part-time Lakeville firefighter who had considered Dunlevy a role model and father figure, according to court documents.
The first alleged assault happened July 6, 2014, at a campground in Wareham. The second alleged assault happened July 14, 2014, at Dunlevy’s home in Lakeville.
On those two occasions, the indictments allege that Dunlevy supplied alcohol to the victim, then a minor, and assaulted and raped him.
Dunlevy was the alleged victim’s mentor and supervisor, first befriending him at the scene of a double vehicular fatality on the Middleboro line in July 2012, according to court documents.
The victim reported the incidents to Lakeville police on March 9.
After nearly 21 years on the job, Dunlevy was given the option to resign from the department or to be fired, according to court documents. He chose to retire.
He was ordered at an earlier court appearance at Wareham District Court not to contact the victim or the fire department.
The attempted rape indictment stems from an incident involving Dunlevy and another victim in 2010 at Dunlevy’s home in Lakeville.
No further information was available about the details of that incident.
Assistant District Attorney Mary Nguyen is prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the Lakeville Police Department.
Dunlevy will be arraigned in Brockton Superior Court at a later date.
Dunlevy was a well-known figure in Lakeville. He was hired to serve on the fire department in June 1995 by a unanimous vote of the Board of Selectmen.
He eventually served as president and secretary of the Lakeville firefighters’ union and was a member of the Cemetery Commission, where he advocated for more cemetery space in town.
He ran for selectman in 2004, but dropped out of the race.
___
(c)2016 The Standard-Times, New Bedford, Mass.