A pair of state police troopers have been pulled off duty in connection with investigation into an alleged rape at police housing in Oak Bluffs.
Police suspended troopers Ryan Costello and Robert Branca with pay on Thursday, police said in a statement. Prosecutors previously said that Edward Brown, 27, was visiting Mr. Costello in August and brought a woman back to the barracks.
The woman later told investigators that Mr. Brown raped her.
The criminal investigation is being conducted by Oak Bluffs police, and Mr. Brown was arraigned in Edgartown District Court earlier this month. State police are conducting their own internal investigation.
State police on Friday said that the alleged assault occurred in temporary housing available to a small number of troopers assigned to the Island to support staff in the high season. Those accommodations are located in a separate structure apart from the barracks itself on Temahigan avenue, and are currently vacant, police said.
State police did not state why the two troopers were suspended, and Mr. Branca had not been previously connected publicly to the case.
Mr. Costello, however, was mentioned several times by the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office during Mr. Brown’s arraignment. The victim reported the alleged rape took place on August 15, and investigators reached out to Mr. Costello on August 29.
Mr. Costello told police that Mr. Brown, a college friend, had been staying with him, and they had gone out to the Ritz, but there was a time in the night where Mr. Costello did not know where Mr. Brown was, assistant district attorney Courtney Scalice said at the Oct. 13 arraignment.
Mr. Costello provided investigators text messages between himself and Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown texted Mr. Costello that he had brought a woman back to the living quarters, and asked if that was okay, according to Ms. Scalice.
Mr. Costello replied that it was okay, Ms. Scalice said.
Mr. Costello was interviewed by the district attorney’s office with his attorney and state police union representative, Ms. Scalice said. He told investigators that he had returned to the barracks around 1:30 a.m. or 2 a.m. on August 15, and found Mr. Brown by himself, according to Ms. Scalice.
During the arraignment, the assistant district attorney noted that there was an hour gap in text messages between the two, which Mr. Costello said was when the two men were discussing what happened between Mr. Brown and the woman in person.
In the aftermath of the alleged rape, state police Colonel Geoffrey Noble prohibited overnight guests at the housing used by troopers on the Vineyard and Nantucket, and directed the agency to develop a policy that required troopers to get written approval for guests to enter non-public areas. Those guests would also need to be accompanied at all times.
State police said they have fully cooperated with Oak Bluffs criminal investigation and the internal investigation is ongoing.
The state police union did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.