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BOSTON (AP) — A former Massachusetts police officer who earlier pleaded not responsible to killing a lady he’s accused of sexually exploiting when she was underage was charged Tuesday with inflicting the dying of her unborn son.
Matthew Farwell, 39, of Easton, is accused of strangling Sandra Birchmore in early 2021 after she advised him that she was pregnant and that he was the daddy. Birchmore was 23 on the time.
Farwell labored as an officer for the Stoughton Police Division from 2012 till 2022.
Farwell, who was arrested and charged in August 2024, stays in federal custody. He was scheduled to go on trial subsequent yr on the preliminary fees.
He’s being represented by a number of federal public defenders who couldn’t be reached for remark Tuesday.
Birchmore started taking part within the police explorers program when she was 12 years previous, in accordance with the indictment in U.S. District Court docket in Massachusetts.
Court docket paperwork say that Farwell, who was a police explorers volunteer, used his authority and entry to groom, sexually exploit after which sexually abuse Birchmore when she was 15 and that he continued to have intercourse together with her when she grew to become an grownup.
“Throughout a number of the shifts when Farwell was alleged to be performing his duties as a Stoughton police officer, he was as an alternative engaged in intercourse acts with Birchmore,” in accordance with the indictment.
In late 2020, Birchmore discovered she was pregnant and advised Farwell, in accordance with the indictment.
Farwell allegedly strangled Birchmore on or about Feb. 1, 2021, after which used his police data to stage her residence to make it look as if she had died by suicide, in accordance with the indictment.
When Farwell was indicted on the preliminary fees, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara stated that the division had labored with different businesses, together with the FBI, to research.
“The day after Sandra Birchmore was discovered lifeless in her Canton residence, I ordered a prolonged and aggressive inner affairs investigation, the directions of which made it clear that no stone must be left unturned,” McNamara stated in an announcement.
“The alleged homicide of Sandra is a horrific injustice,” McNamara stated. “The allegations towards the suspect, a former Stoughton Police Officer, signify the only worst act of not simply skilled misconduct however certainly human indecency that I’ve noticed in a virtually three-decade profession in regulation enforcement.”
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