BOSTON (WHDH) - The City of Boston has released 57 pages worth of files detailing sexual assault allegations involving City Councilor and Suffolk County District Attorney candidate Ricardo Arroyo, after a judge ordered the release the night before.
Made available with redactions protecting the woman at the center of the case, as ordered by Judge Debra Squires-Lee, the documents cover allegations made against Arroyo when he was 18.
Arroyo publicized some of the documents via Twitter, which he filed for this week, showing how a detective looking into claims of sexual assault from 2005 determined them to be unfounded.
“Not only is @DAKevinHayden’s use of the office in this way unethical and a violation of professional responsibility – It’s also a blatant lie,” the tweet read, sharing a screenshot of a document entitled “SEXUAL ASSAULT UNIT – CASE UPDATE3.”
The document he highlighted, attributed to police detective Dante Williams on Nov. 3, 2005, stated:
“On July 21, 2006, Det. Williams was assigned this case. After thoroughly reviewing the case file, including all the investigative reports contained within it, I have concluded that this case should be cleared as unfounded.”
The case was closed a year later, after assessments of the information found that no crime was committed.
However, in the 50+ pages released by the City, additional details have come to light, including that when informed of the allegation, Arroyo, in high school at the time, said he would seek counsel.
Another section detailed how a detective spoke with Arroyo’s attorney, addressing apparent “concerns of threats in the way of voice mail and emails,” resulting in the detective advising Arroyo not to contact the victim.
The Councilor had sought the files’ release after the allegations were originally made public by The Boston Globe in late August, including allegations from another case in 2007. The woman involved in the ’07 allegations went on to recant, but the woman from the original case stood by what she said 17 years ago, as reported by the Globe.
In a statement, Arroyo’s team said the files confirmed that he “never sexually assaulted anyone.”
“Even though these charges were determined to be unfounded, Ricardo understands that this issue has been difficult for so many people in our community, especially survivors of sexual assault,” the statement read. “He is very sympathetic to the expressed concerns of the individual from 2005.”
The attorney of the woman from the ’05 case, who reiterated his client told the truth at the time, said the use of the word “unfounded” in the reports have specific implications.
“The words ‘unfounded’ are there,” said Attorney Leonard Kesten. “Unfounded, in this context, and in almost every police context, means that they’ve reviewed the facts and decided there’s no crime. You can do something wrong and not commit a crime.”
Interim Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden, Arroyo’s opponent in the DA race, released a statement that said after the office’s review of the unredacted file, nothing in them suggested or indicated the allegations are unfounded or question the validity of the victim’s statements.
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