A security official for Boston Public Schools has been charged with raping a woman inside a Massachusetts State Police barracks on Martha's Vineyard, months after the woman was found naked and screaming for help on the street outside the facility. Edward J. Brown, who served as assistant security director for Boston Public Schools, was arrested on October 9 at Boston Latin Academy in Boston by Boston and Oak Bluffs police officers.
According to The Boston Globe, Brown was charged with raping a woman inside the state police barracks on Martha's Vineyard in August 2026. Court records cited by the Globe state the woman was found lying naked on a street and screaming for help, and the Cape and Islands prosecutor said she was discovered lying in the street outside the barracks. Good Samaritans then drove her to a hospital, where Oak Bluffs police interviewed her.
Separate local reporting from the Vineyard Gazette fills in more of what happened that night. According to the Vineyard Gazette, Oak Bluffs police opened a sexual assault investigation in late August after responding to a woman in distress who said she had been assaulted inside the state police barracks on Temahigan Road by an overnight guest of an assigned seasonal trooper. A petition hosted on Change.org, relaying local reporting on the incident, says the woman fled the barracks partially undressed and flagged down a passing motorist on the street before good Samaritans got her to Martha's Vineyard Hospital.
A Search Warrant Against a State Police Facility
In an unusual move, Oak Bluffs police obtained a court-authorized search warrant to search the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Oak Bluffs as part of their own investigation into the alleged assault, conducted independently of state police, the Gazette reports. The Massachusetts State Police, for its part, launched a separate internal affairs investigation while confirming that neither the woman nor the suspect were employees of the department, according to a report from WBZ-TV / CBS News Boston.
The Oak Bluffs barracks covers Martha's Vineyard and houses troopers assigned to the island, per CBS News Boston's coverage. The alleged assault took place inside the barracks, where the woman said an overnight guest of an assigned seasonal trooper assaulted her, the Gazette reported.
Arrest Came Weeks Later, at a Boston Exam School
Officers took him into custody at Boston Latin Academy in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. Brown was a Boston Public Schools assistant security director, according to a Boston Globe report.
Arresting officers allegedly discovered that Brown possessed white powder believed to be cocaine, per an arraignment recording obtained by the Globe. Boston Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Globe on Brown's employment status following the arrest.
Not Guilty Plea in Edgartown
Brown was arraigned Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to a single rape charge in Edgartown District Court, the Globe reported after obtaining the arraignment recording Wednesday.
The Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office prosecutes cases, the MV Times has reported.
The State Police launched an internal affairs investigation into the incident, according to CBS News Boston.
