BOSTON POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF VIOLATING CIVIL RIGHTS

Boston, MA... A Boston Police Officer pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the civil rights of an unnamed female victim.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; and Edward Davis, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department, announced that MICHAEL LOPRIORE, age 37, of Chestnut Street in Everett, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to a one-count Information charging him with Deprivation of Rights Under the Color of Law.

At yesterday's plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to the trial, the evidence would have proven that LOPRIORE, who is a 12 year veteran of the Boston Police Department, used his official authority to coerce an unnamed female victim into performing a sex act. LOPRIORE, while off duty in Boston, saw a prostitute in a customer's vehicle. LOPRIORE approached the vehicle, displayed his Boston Police badge and directed the prostitute out of the car and into his personal car. He drove her to a location in Quincy where he stopped the car, said that he could arrest her and told her to perform a sex act, which she did. As part of a plea agreement, LOPRIORE resigned as a Boston Police Officer.

Judge Woodlock scheduled sentencing for March 13, 2007, at 2:00 pm. According to the plea agreement, at sentencing the government will recommend the maximum term of imprisonment, which is 1 year of imprisonment, to be followed by 1 year of supervised release.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Boston Police Department's Anti-Corruption Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney George W. Vien in Sullivan’s Public Corruption Unit.