The Memorializing of a Rapist
In 1997, a woman filed a police report with Ayer Police Department. In it, she alleged that Matt King had raped her.
At the time, King was a sergeant with the Littleton Police Department, and Tom O’Dea was Littleton’s chief of police. After placing King on paid administrative leave “for reasons of my own as Police Chief,” O’Dea wrote a memorandum to all staff, dated March 27, 1997, informing them that this was “departmental business” and advising: “You may consider this a ‘gag order.’ ”
People in positions of power and influence knew of King’s rape in 1997.
They covered it up then.
Seventeen years later, in 2014, Littleton Police Sergeant David Leslie informed the Littleton Board of Selectmen (as it was known at that time) of the rape allegation against King. Leslie further reported that King had paid his rape victim $25,000.00 to not move forward with the criminal case.
Sergeant Leslie explained that King had borrowed money for the payoff, including $5,000.00 from a now-deceased Littleton business owner, who was later visited by two Littleton Police officers: then-sergeant Matthew Pinard (now Littleton PD’s police chief) and then-sergeant Jeff Patterson (now Littleton’s Deputy Police Chief). Reportedly, these two Littleton cops told the business owner that the debt would not be repaid.
In 2014, when Sergeant David Leslie spoke out about the rape, people in positions of power and influence were told of King’s 1997 rape. Candidly, looking back now, it seems that many of those people in positions of power and influence already knew about the rape.
One might presume that a full and exonerating investigation—which, at minimum, would’ve included getting a copy of the 1997 police report from Ayer PD—had occurred since King became chief on September 30, 2014.
On August 19, 2024, I sent this public records request to Littleton’s TA and town clerk:
The next day, Littleton’s town clerk informed me that there were no records “responsive to this request,” that is, no records exist because back in 2014 no one in those positions of power in Littleton asked Ayer for the police report of King’s 1997 rape.
Jim Karr didn’t ask for the report.
Joe Knox didn’t ask for the report.
Alex McCurdy didn’t ask for the report.
Ted Doucette didn’t ask for the report.
Keith Bergman didn’t ask for the report.
Bonnie Holston didn’t ask for the report.
Tom Harrington, Esq. didn’t ask for the report.
Of course, Littleton’s town clerk couldn’t search the personal email accounts of those people. So, on August 20, 2024, I sent this public records request to Ayer:
On August 27, 2024, I received this:
Since 1997, no one except me has ever asked Ayer Police Department for the King rape report.
In September 2024, this was published on the Littleton Police Department’s Facebook page:
For twenty-eight years, people in positions of power and influence have either actively engaged in covering up King’s rape or have kept quiet about this shameful open secret in our little town. Nearly three decades of the abuse of power and wielding of influence has resulted in the Town of Littleton having a memorial bench to King, installed on September 11, 2024, on Littleton-owned land, right in front of the police department.
People in positions of power and influence have memorialized a rapist.
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My name will appear on the ballot for a seat on Littleton’s Select Board.
Election Day is May 10, 2025.
My first policy objective: Rid our town of the rapist’s bench.
I don't want to live in a town that allows this to happen. Do you?