America's Most Wanted

The previous articles regarding the incident on Route 28, Middleboro, published in Taunton Gazette and Brockton Enterprise, contain more substance to calm shattered nerves than the SouthCoast article below, but the message is the same.

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There is NO indication that there is a Serial Rapist involved.

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Police downplay serial rapist rumors from chain e-mail

By Brian Fraga
April 11, 2009 6:00 AM


Contrary to a recent chain e-mail circulating through SouthCoast, police officials say there is no evidence a serial rapist is responsible for two sexual assaults in Middleboro and Raynham.

The e-mail cites the March 27 attack of a Weymouth woman in Middleboro. The woman was driving south on Route 28 around 4:30 p.m. when someone bumped her vehicle from behind.

When she pulled over, a man appeared, opened the driver's side door and punched her in the face. She was beaten unconscious and was hanging outside her passenger side door when police arrived. A rape kit later tested positive that the victim had been sexually assaulted.

No suspect has been identified and the case is under investigation.

The case was recently highlighted on the home page of "America's Most Wanted." The accompanying article said police believed a serial rapist may be responsible, noting the similarities of a September 2008 attack in Raynham.

Raynham Police Chief Louis J. Pacheco confirmed a woman was sexually assaulted while driving her vehicle at night about six months prior to the Middleboro rape. He said the case file notes were given to Middleboro police because of the similar circumstances.

Police advise people to call 911 and not leave their cars when rear-ended on the highway.
Meanwhile, while investigators are not ruling out a link, nothing has turned up to indicate that people should be aware of a serial rapist.

"We are not anywhere near to saying, 'Yes, it's definitely the same person," Pacheco said.
"Something was mentioned to 'America's Most Wanted,' and it morphed from that via the Internet to rumors of a serial rapist."

A Middleboro police dispatcher said police spokesman Lt. Bruce D. Gates was not available Friday afternoon. Gates told reporters earlier that detectives were not of the opinion that there was a serial rapist.

The chain e-mail warned readers: "Middleboro Attack!!!!!!!" and urged people to "keep this going ... be careful girls ... if you get hit from behind do not pull over or get out of your car, but call 911 right away!"

One version of the e-mail also mentioned that detectives were investigating a roadside rape in Wareham possibly linked with the other two sexual assaults. Wareham police spokesman Lt. Irving Wallace said he was unaware of any such incident in town.
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America's Most Wanted has provided a good service and surely brought many to prosecution, but it seems to be the source of the "Serial Rapist" rumors.
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I sent the email below to AMW to request that they correct their report of the incident:

There are a number of significant inaccuracies in your report that are creating local hysteria.

Police deny any indication that this is a 'serial rapist' at this time.

There was an incident in Raynham, an abutting town that took place at night.

The Raynham Police Chief indicated that he didn't possess enough information to make a connection.

Your report has spawned local hysteria in terms of false emails that are circulating linking other town, such as Carver and Wareham.

Both of those towns indicate that there were NO reported incidents.

The accident did not take place at an intersection, but rather some distance from the intersection.

Because I am active in the town, I received 2 of the emails that are circulating and contained some of the above misinformation last week.

I have done my best to blog about the misinformation and contacted one reporter who published an article to correct the misinformation.

You are doing a serious disservice to your readers by not correcting the misinformation included in your article.

The color of the vehicle has been reported in conflicting detail and that requires correction, maybe on Monday when Lt. Gates is available.

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It is my intent to dispel any rumors and hysteria that has been created.

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Caution, as always, should be the key. Lock your car doors and call police if you're rear-ended, but those precautions always make sense. And stop forwarding the emails.