Officials seeking to charge Brockton Mayor Moises Rodrigues with assault and battery on a then-high schooler cleared a significant legal hurdle Friday when the clerk-magistrate of the Wrentham District Court ruled that probable cause exists to find Rodrigues committed the crime in question.
The alleged assault and battery occurred while the girl was playing in Brockton High School’s marching band during a parade this spring. She accused Rodrigues of touching her inappropriately, grabbing her and drawing her close to him in a manner she found highly upsetting.
At an Aug. 7 hearing with Clerk-Magistrate Pamela Gauvin-Fernandes, a Massachusetts State Police captain who had investigated the allegation against Rodrigues described in detail his findings, which he said showed a charge against Rodrigues would be warranted.
A spokesperson with the Norfolk district attorney’s office said it would be prosecuting the case.
The incident burst into the public eye when the girl’s mother interrupted Brockton High School’s graduation ceremony, yelling at Rodrigues as he spoke from the podium.
A second student also complained to the school that Rodrigues had touched her inappropriately during a separate school event. An independent investigation into that case is ongoing, a source with knowledge of the case told GBH News.
Through a spokesperson, Rodrigues declined a request for comment Monday.
At the June high school graduation, the girl’s mother approached the podium as Rodrigues addressed graduates and their families, shouting, “You have to [expletive] get out of here. You know what you did to my daughter. You know what you did to my daughter. You have to [expletive] get out of here.”
GBH News subsequently reported that Brockton Public School officials had urged Rodrigues not to attend the graduation. He has said that he had an obligation to be present and that he chose not to hand out diplomas to avoid making inadvertent contact with accuser, whose identity Rodrigues said he didn’t know at the time.
State Police assigned to the Plymouth County district attorney’s office were investigating the incident and, last month, brought the potential charge of assault and battery against Rodrigues.
The teenager obtained a two-week temporary harassment prevention order against Rodrigues shortly after graduation.
In June, a judge declined to extend that restraining order, saying that while Rodrigues’ conduct had been “unwelcome, offensive and certainly unprofessional,” it didn’t meet the criteria for the restraining order to be continued. Specifically, the judge said, the student did not establish that an incident of indecent assault and battery had occurred, or that she had been the victim of three incidents of willful and malicious conduct.
GBH News is not identifying the two girls, who were both minors at the time of their alleged interactions with Rodrigues.
Material from previous GBH News reports was used in this story.
