A White former police detective facing federal charges on accusations he sexually assaulted two Black women while on duty was found dead at his home Monday, Dec. 2, in an apparent suicide.
Roger Golubski, 71, who was scheduled to begin trial for the alleged civil rights violations, died of a gunshot wound, according to a news release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. According to the release, there were no immediate indications of foul play and his death remains under investigation.
Golubski was discovered on the back porch of his Edwardsville home after a neighbor called 911 just after 9 a.m. Monday.
That same day, after Golubski was found dead, federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse to drop the charges against the former police officer, the Associated Press reported.
“This matter involved extremely serious charges, and it is always difficult when a case is unable to be fully and fairly heard in a public trial and weighed and determined by a jury,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Kate E. Brubacher for the District of Kansas said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “The proceedings in this case may be over, but its lasting impact on all the individuals and families involved remains. We wish them peace and the opportunity for healing as they come to terms with this development and ask that they all be treated with respect and their privacy respected.”
Golubski was indicted in 2022 on six federal counts of civil rights violations. According to a federal indictment, he was accused of sexually assaulting a girl more than 10 times between 1999 and 2001. Golubski repeatedly threatened the girl, who was 13 when the alleged abuse began, saying he would kill her or her grandmother if she told authorities, per the indictment.
Protesters rally outside the federal courthouse.
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The second alleged victim said Golubski raped and sexually assaulted her several times over two or three years, according to the indictment. The abuse allegedly began soon after Golubski arrested her two sons.
Golubski was later charged with conspiracy for his involvement in a sex trafficking ring involving underage girls in the 1990s, per the New York Times.
Golubski, who worked for the Kansas City, Kan., police department for 35 years, had entered not guilty pleas to all of the charges. His attorney could not be reached for comment.
The civil rights allegations against Golubski first surfaced when he and the police department were sued for Golubski’s alleged role in framing then-teenager Lamonte McIntyre for a double murder in 1994, CNN reported.
McIntyre spent 23 years in prison before he was released. He later settled the lawsuit with the county for $12. 5 million, according to CNN.
In October, Rapper Jay Z’s Team ROC, the criminal justice arm of his entertainment organization, Roc Nation, sued the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, alleging police and the city’s government violated public records laws by obstructing their attempts to get documents related to police abuse and misconduct, NBC Newsreported.
