Dec. 27 (UPI) — A Massachusetts police officer has been charged with sexually assaulting a child.
Winthrop police officer James Feeley pleaded not guilty to child rape and indecent assault charges in court Wednesday.
According to court documents, the victim was younger than 12.
Prosecutors had asked for $500,000 to be posted, but the court instead set Feeley’s bail at $200,000.
Feeley’s defense attorney, Nitin Dalal, said the bail was unjustifiably high and pointed to her client’s two decades of police service.
“What happened here is an aberration of immense proportions. He is not a flight risk; he knows he has to face justice for this,” Dalal said.
The Winthrop Police Department announced Wednesday that it had temporarily suspended Feeley.
“James Feeley has been placed on administrative leave from the Winthrop Police Department pending the outcome of a criminal investigation headed by Stage Police detectives assigned to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office,” Winthrop Police Department Chief Terence M. Delehanty said in a statement Wednesday.
Feeley’s next court appeached has been set for Jan. 29.