Brookline police officer allegedly groped, kissed woman on duty
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Brookline Police Department
By John Hilliard and Erin Clossey/staff writers
Wicked Local Brookline
Posted May 10, 2010 @ 06:02 PM
Brookline —
A 24-year veteran Brookline police officer who has faced previous allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women denies a local woman’s accusation that he groped and forcibly kissed her while he was on duty.
Brookline Police Officer Scott Seto is on administrative leave, and his department has charged him with two counts of indecent assault and battery, along with two additional counts of assault and battery on May 5.
Police filed the charges in Brookline District Court, and Seto, 52, of Waltham, was relieved of duty and placed on administrative leave on May 4.
“The man has no record – he’s entitled to a presumption of innocence,” said Seto’s attorney, Thomas Drechsler, on Monday. Drechsler said Seto denies the charges against him.
According to a police report on file with the clerk’s office at Brookline District Court, the victim told police she left the Washington Street Tavern at 12:30 a.m., on May 2, and spotted a group of about five people, including a uniformed police officer, talking outside the nearby 7-Eleven store. As she got into her car, parked on Beacon Street in front of the store, the officer started asking about her car, according to the police report obtained at Brookline District Court.
The police officer, later identified by police as Seto, stood between the car and its open door, the two talked about the victim’s car, and Seto gave her advice to share with her mechanic. The officer asked the woman’s name, and she gave it, according to the report.
“The officer then said that his name was Scott and they shook hands, and he said ‘you had me at hello,’” according to the report.
When asked for it, the woman gave her address to the officer, and the following afternoon, when she was driving home, Seto stopped her on her street and followed her home in his police cruiser, according to the report.
As she tried to get into her home, she said the officer pressed himself against her shoulder blades, “making contact with her from there to her lower thighs,” according to the report.
He allegedly followed her inside, hugged her, groped her and tried to kiss her multiple times. According to the report, he made several sexually suggestive comments, including a request to “shower together” with the victim.
The victim said the incident made her feel uncomfortable and “dirty,” and Seto told the woman he would return, the report said.
The victim told police that she let Seto into her home because “she trusted him because he was a police officer and also had concerns because he had a gun,” according to the report. She talked about the incident to a friend, who told police on May 3. The victim spoke to police the following day.
After police interviewed the victim, a police investigator spoke with Seto following roll call later that day. Seto denied the allegations in the videotaped interview, but noted that the relationship with the woman “wasn’t going anywhere” because the woman had a boyfriend, the report said.
Seto said the woman told him to “stop by anytime,” an invitation the woman denied making, according to the report. Seto said he used “poor judgment” by entering a woman’s home on duty without reporting his location to fellow officers.
According to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office, the charge of indecent assault and battery carries a maximum prison term of five years with a conviction, and the assault and battery charge has a two-and-a-half year sentence with a conviction.
According to the report, which did not include specifics, there are a number of previous allegations that have been filed against Seto for “inappropriate comments and behavior.”
Drechsler said Seto denies allegations of prior misconduct.
Seto will be arraigned on May 19 at Dedham District Court, instead of Brookline District Court, because Seto is a Brookline police officer, according to court files.
According to a TAB review of public employee salaries in 2008, Seto earned more than $171,000 per year, including detail pay, and was the eighth-highest paid employee of the town, earning more than the commissioner of Public Works.
Seto is listed as a director of the Benevolent Asian Jade Society of New England, according to the Secretary of State’s office. He has also served as dog officer for Brookline police.
In a written statement, Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said his department would “aggressively pursue” allegations of police misconduct.
“I feel it is extremely important that in cases involving criminal allegations against police officers, whether on duty or off duty, that the Brookline Police Department be proactive in its investigations and handle the matter in a professional manner,” O’Leary said. “When we are made aware of any potential incidents of police misconduct, we will aggressively pursue the investigation and go where the evidence takes us.”
Seto is the fifth Brookline officer in less than two months to be placed on leave while being investigated for wrongdoing by the Police Department.
Last month, police filed charges of assault and battery against four officers in connection with a fight between officers and a stripper’s bodyguard at a bachelor party in March.
On Wednesday, May 5, the Clerk of Courts found probable cause to issue complaints against two of the officers, Daniel Avila and Brendon Kelliher. The clerk also upheld charges against the bodyguard, Robert Sonia, for assault and battery and making threats, and one count of driving to endanger against the dancer, Theresa Soundis.
The clerk found no probable cause in the charges against officers Yu Kajita and David Hill. Drechsler is also representing those four officers.
All four officers were placed on administrative leave with pay pending an internal investigation. All four returned to work last week; their employment status will be discussed at the May 11 Board of Selectmen meeting, according to the police statement.
Copyright 2010 Brookline TAB. Some rights reserved
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