Springield court security officer charged with sex crimes www.privateofficer.com
Daniel J. Curran, 39, who beat a 2001 open and gross lewdness rap, has an April 8 disposition hearing on charges of indecent assault and battery and lewd wanton lascivious conduct, records show.
The case stems from 2009 charges by East Longmeadow cops, who allege Curran pinched the butt of a naked 15-year-old boy in a health club shower, records show.
On Thursday, court officials told the Herald they had lost Curran’s criminal case file. The file has since been found, officials said yesterday.
Curran, who worked as a state transportation engineering aide for seven months in 2002, was hired as a court officer in June 2004 after a background check, said court spokeswoman Joan Kenney. She noted the 2001 case against Curran was dismissed, and said he has been on unpaid suspension since the new charges were filed.
Defense attorney Michael O. Jennings and Hampden County District Attorney Mark Mastroianni did not return messages.
Court officers serve the key public safety function of guarding suspects, witnesses and jurors. But Curran is not the only employee to face legal trouble.
Former Trial Court Security Department staffers who have faced serious charges include a Level 3 sex offender and a chief court officer’s son who is now in federal prison for drug distribution, a Herald review found.
Former associate court officer Charles J. Tatum was hired in July 2001 despite a 1986 conviction in South Carolina for indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, records show.
He is set to go to trial on May 11 on rape charges in Plymouth Superior Court. A Massachusetts criminal background check was conducted on Tatum before he was hired, Kenney said. That check did not list the South Carolina conviction. Tatum was put on unpaid leave and later fired on July 1, 2010, after a disciplinary hearing, said Kenney. Neither he nor his lawyer returned messages.
Former court officer Eric Bevilacqua, 29, whose father is a chief court officer in Haverhill, is now serving a 35-month federal prison sentence for distributing oxycodone, court records show. He had been hired by the Security Department in 2006 and resigned in 2009, after he was charged.
His father, Frederick Bevilacqua, referred questions to Kenney, who described the son as a “qualified candidate at the time of his hiring.” His lawyer declined comment.
Source:Boston.com
