The former MBTA Transit Police officer convicted last week of the rape of two women while on duty in 2012 was sentenced to six years in prison.
A jury sitting in Suffolk Superior Court on Friday convicted Shawn McCarthy, 50, of Maine but formerly of Wilmington, of three counts of rape. On Wednesday morning, Judge Joshua Wall sentenced him to six years in state prison on two of the counts and two years of probation on another. McCarthy must serve a minimum of four years on the concurrent sentences and must also register as a sex offender.
At the hearing, the two women provided victim impact statements. One of them said that “It was 11 years ago, when as a young, physically and emotionally immature girl, I was assaulted by Shawn McCarthy. At that age, I should have been taken care of, not taken advantage of.”
“I have spent my life since then reclaiming who I am. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into years,” she continued. “I’m leaving it all here in this courtroom today because I have a beautiful life to get back to.”
The sentence was largely in line with the prosecution’s wishes, according to their sentencing memo. The defense had asked for a sentence of three to five years in their own memo.
McCarthy immediately filed notice that he would be appealing the sentence, according to court records.
The rapes happened the night of July 6, 2012, while McCarthy was on duty and wearing his uniform when two women in their early 20s, intoxicated from their night out to celebrate one of their 21st birthdays, approached him near Aquarium station, according to prosecutors.
The 12-year veteran of the MBTA Police, against the recommendation of a fellow officer at the scene, offered to take the two women for a joyride in his police cruiser, prosecutors said. They set off through downtown with the cruiser’s lights flashing and eventually pulled over for a bathroom break in an empty lot.
It was here, prosecutors said, that McCarthy told the women that he wasn’t risking his job on this little outing for nothing and that the two women would have to pay up with sex.
“The women stated that they feared getting in trouble and had no choice but to submit as McCarthy subjected them to sexual acts,” according to the prosecution’s statement of the case. The document adds that he raped one of them against his cruiser and raped the other digitally in the backseat.
The other victim in her statement said, “I’ve realized that the first step to move forward with my life is forgiveness, not for him but for me.
“Coming here, being honest and facing what happened freed me from the chains that have held me back for too many years,” she continued. “The burden is gone. This isn’t my victim impact statement, this is my survivor statement.”
