A retired Massachusetts police officer accused of rape appeared in court Monday to face a charge brought by an Essex County grand jury.
Perry Collins, who retired from the Rowley Police Department last spring after more than 30 years there, pleaded not guilty in Essex Superior Court. He is accused of sexually assaulting a woman who was known to him in April 2018.
Collins had previously pleaded not guilty to a rape charge in a lower court. He was suspended by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission last month.
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Records obtained by the NBC10 Boston Investigators show Collins was the subject of a dozen internal affairs investigations during his career and faced warnings or discipline in six. The most serious was for abuse of overtime while working as the department's court officer in Newburyport District Court -- the very court where he stood accused on Friday.
The Rowley Police Department found Collins submitted overtime for hours never worked or just showed up to court when he wasn't needed. He was also reprimanded for manipulating the hours of details for his own benefit and ignoring a call for a well-being check.
None of the cases were similar to the rape allegations he now faces.
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