TODDLER DEAD AT HOME OF COP CHARGED WITH CHILD RAPE
Authorities are investigating what led to the death of a 2-year-old found unresponsive Friday at the home of a Winthrop police lieutenant charged with child rape last month, but they say initial findings don’t indicate a suspicious cause.
“The initial investigation into the death of a two-yearold in Winthrop today indicates no signs of foul play or physical trauma,” the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Friday afternoon. “We are awaiting an autopsy to determine cause of death.”
Winthrop police and fire and Massachusetts State Police responded to a report of an unresponsive child late Friday morning at 26 Pleasant St., where Winthrop Police Lt. James Feeley, 56, had lived when he was charged with one count of aggravated rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.
Authorities found the 2-yearold unresponsive at the scene, and the fire department decided to take the child to Massachusetts General Hospital in the back of the fire chief’s vehicle, Winthrop Police Chief Terance Delehanty told reporters later in the afternoon. The child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Delehanty called it a “very tragic and traumatic day here in Winthrop.”
“Any event like this is extremely tragic for the family,” he said, “as well as for the first responders.”
Delehanty declined to comment on whether the home had a connection to Feeley due to privacy concerns for the family. The chief added that Feeley remains behind bars and is no longer employed by the department, a change from when Delehanty placed him on administrative leave following the Dec. 27 arrest.
“There was a process to that change,” the chief said. “Again, personnel matters are not public record. We’ll just say he’s no longer a member of the Winthrop Police Department. We have severed our ties with him.”
Emergency personnel who responded to the home will receive necessary treatment and services. Delehanty called such responses involving young children a “toll taker.”
“These are not easy conversations when you go home to have with your own children,” he said, “and when you look at your children it certainly brings you back.”
Feeley pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in East Boston municipal court on Dec. 27. Judge Joseph Griffin imposed a $200,000 cash bail.
Feeley disclosed that he had sexually assaulted the child multiple times, according to a portion of the redacted criminal complaint provided by the clerk’s office following the hearing.
In the aftermath of his arrest, the state Department of Children and Families confirmed to news outlets that
Feeley was a foster parent for the agency. DCF did not indicate whether the children were removed from the home due to state and federal privacy requirements.