A Boston school security official has pleaded not guilty to raping a woman inside the Massachusetts State Police barracks on Martha's Vineyard.

The most uncomfortable part of this case for Massachusetts State Police is not the defendant. It is that a civilian was allegedly staying overnight in trooper housing, and that the trooper's text messages did not reach investigators until nearly a month later, according to prosecutors. The state police say they are reviewing their visitor rules and have already banned guests at island housing. The criminal case itself will turn on DNA results, an Uber trip and those texts, and Brown's lawyer says there are two sides to the story.

Edward Joseph Brown, 27, of Boston, pleaded not guilty to a felony rape charge at his arraignment on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in Edgartown District Court, the MV Times reported. The charge comes from an Oak Bluffs Police investigation into an alleged sexual assault in the early hours of Aug. 15 inside the Massachusetts State Police barracks on Temahigan Road in Oak Bluffs, according to the MV Times, Fox News and The Boston Globe. Prosecutors said Brown was not affiliated with the state police but was visiting a trooper he knew from college who was assigned to the island for the summer, the outlets reported.

According to the Cape and Islands District Attorney's Office, as reported by the MV Times, there were two 911 calls at 12:57 a.m. that night about a distressed woman, naked, on the side of the road near the barracks. Assistant District Attorney Courtney Scalice told the court the woman, who is visiting from Ireland and has since returned home, said she had been approached by a man at the Ritz Cafe, a bar in Oak Bluffs, and that the next thing she recalled was waking up naked in an unfamiliar place, Fox News and the MV Times reported. Scalice said the woman told investigators the man held her down and raped her while she kicked and screamed, and that when he left the room she ran out of the building, Fox News reported. Responding officers saw bruises on her legs and a red mark on her neck, Scalice said, according to Fox News.

Prosecutors said a bouncer at the Ritz later gave police a photo of a man he knew only as a friend of state troopers, and that the trooper identified the man in the photo as Brown, Fox News and the MV Times reported. Police obtained warrants for Brown's ride-share accounts and found an Uber trip that ended at the barracks shortly before the 911 calls, and the driver told police he picked up a man matching Brown's description who did not appear intoxicated and a young woman who appeared very intoxicated, according to the prosecutor's account as reported by the MV Times and Fox News. Scalice said the trooper's attorney turned over text messages between the two men on Sept. 11 that had not previously been given to investigators, including one in which Brown allegedly wrote that he was at the barracks with a woman, Fox News reported. The MV Times reported Brown gave the trooper shifting accounts of the night, and that a search of the barracks did not turn up the woman's clothing or phone. Fox News reported that DNA samples suitable for comparison were recovered.

Brown was arrested Oct. 9 at Boston Latin Academy, where he worked as an assistant security administrator for Boston Public Schools, by Oak Bluffs Police with help from the Boston Police Anti-Corruption Division, the MV Times reported. Boston Public Schools said it placed him on administrative leave, according to the MV Times. Prosecutors asked for $50,000 bail, and Judge Benjamin C. Barnes set $10,000 cash bail and ordered Brown to stay away from the woman and witnesses, the MV Times and Fox News reported. The MV Times reported a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3 in Edgartown District Court. Fox News reported Brown faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble called the allegations deeply troubling and said the agency is cooperating with the investigation and reviewing its visitor authorization procedures, Fox News reported. Fox News reported the state police no longer allow guests to stay in police housing on Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket, and the MV Times reported the agency opened an internal affairs investigation. The trooper has not been charged.

Brown's attorney, Anthony Ellison, told Fox News that Brown has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations. "A zealous defense will be mounted on his behalf, as there are always two sides to every story," Ellison said, according to Fox News. The MV Times reported Ellison argued in court that Brown is not a flight risk and said the woman's accounts of what happened have varied. Crime Talk Network does not name people who report sexual assault. A charge is not a conviction. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.