DOJ report accuses Worcester police of sexual misconduct with commercial sex workers

WORCESTER — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has published a 43-page report alleging a pattern of “outrageous government conduct” by the Worcester Police Department (WPD), including sexual misconduct by officers during undercover operations targeting individuals involved in the commercial sex trade. The investigation was launched in November 2022 by then-U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachel Rollins.

According to the report, WPD officers engaged in sexual contact with women suspected of prostitution, conduct that the DOJ concluded violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. The report states that “sexual contact served no legitimate law enforcement purpose” and was described as “shocking, outrageous, and clearly intolerable.”

In one instance detailed in the report – which didn’t include any names of the police officers or women involved – a woman recounted that in or around 2021, an undercover officer touched her breast and allowed her to touch his genitals before arresting her. Another woman stated that an undercover officer instructed her to touch his penis, which she did, before placing her under arrest as part of a sting operation.

Another account described an incident in 2016 where an undercover police officer summoned a woman to his car and asked if he could touch her. In response, she pulled down her top to expose her breast and he asked her to pull her top down lower, asking, “Can I get some nipple?” He then fondled her and twisted her nipple before driving her to another location where she was arrested. The same woman said that approximately two years later, she got into a car with another undercover officer who exposed his penis to her and directed her to touch him for approximately 20 seconds, before he drove her to a different location, where he arrested her. The same officer allegedly arrested her again in a 2022 prostitution sting.

According to the report, some WPD officers claimed that the women initiated the sexual acts as a way to determine if they were undercover officers, under the mistaken belief that police officers would not engage in such activities. This practice is referred to as “cop-testing.” The DOJ stated that such claims are irrelevant, as officers may not engage in sexual contact for investigatory purposes.

According to the DOJ, a woman involved in the commercial sex trade reported that in 2019, a Worcester police officer pulled up to her in a rental car, showed her a bag of drugs, flashed his gun at her, and threatened to arrest her on a drug charge if she would not perform fellatio on him. The woman alleged that the officer forced her to perform oral sex by pushing her head down. She said he gave her $40 afterward, telling her she was lucky to receive any money at all.

Another woman described a 2015 encounter when, as a 19-year-old involved in the commercial sex trade, she was raped by a Worcester police officer. The 19-year-old who had become involved in sex work when she became homeless, said that she used to be taunted by the officer who would ask if she was a “good girl” or a “bad girl” from his patrol car.

After a couple of weeks, he allegedly summoned her to his unmarked car. She got into his cruiser, and during the ride, he told her that he would make her life difficult on the streets if she refused to have sex with him, adding that he knew she had never been arrested and could ensure it stayed that way. He then allegedly took the woman to a local cemetery and forced her to perform fellatio on him in the front seat of his cruiser. He then moved her to the back seat where he penetrated her vaginally. The woman told the DOJ that this wasn’t the only encounter she had with the officer either, adding that he would pick her up and have sex with her two to three times a month from then on until she was arrested by WPD for an unrelated matter.

The report also details allegations of officers paying for sex while on duty. One woman claimed that in 2019, a Worcester officer, wearing his uniform with his gun and radio visible, had sex with her in his police cruiser behind a supermarket. Another woman alleged that in 2019, a Worcester police officer, while on duty and in uniform, paid her with drugs for oral and vaginal sex in his cruiser on multiple occasions. The woman claimed that on one occasion, the officer responded to a call for service while she was still in his cruiser.

Attorney Brian Kelly, representing the City of Worcester, called the report “unfair, inaccurate, and biased.” He suggested it was rushed to publication before the end of the Biden administration, stating, “In racing to publish an inaccurate report before the change in presidential administrations, without bothering to get the facts right, DOJ has done an extreme disservice to the entire Worcester community and, in particular, to the hundreds of honorable Worcester police officers who risk their lives every day to make Worcester a safe place to live.”

The DOJ noted that the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office has not prosecuted individuals for selling sex since 2018, instead referring them to a diversion program.

The investigation was led by the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ and U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy, who said in a statement, “Excessive force and sexual misconduct at the hands of officers who took an oath to serve and protect deeply diminishes the public’s trust in its sworn officers.” Later adding, “The actions by certain officers who engaged in this conduct are not a reflection of the many hard-working and ethical officers at the WPD who did not engage in such misconduct or the thousands of police officers around the Commonwealth who serve with honor every day. While the findings announced in today’s report are serious and sobering, today we start a new chapter. We look forward to working with the City of Worcester and the new leadership of the Worcester Police Department to implement reforms that will prevent these kinds of incidents from reoccurring.”

The DOJ’s findings follow years of complaints from community advocates and survivors of sexual exploitation. According to a 2019 survey cited in the report, over half of 45 respondents, all survivors of sexual exploitation, reported being coerced or forced into sexual acts by undercover WPD officers.

The report calls for immediate reforms, including the establishment of clear policies and training to prohibit sexual misconduct in the Worcester Police Department, strengthened supervisory practices, and accountability measures to prevent further constitutional violations. The DOJ stated that the City of Worcester and WPD must send a clear message that such behavior will not be tolerated.