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Fire lieutenant accused of rape
Charged with sexually assaulting young subordinate twice in 2014
By Jennette Barnes
Globe Correspondent

A former Lakeville fire lieutenant has been charged with rape of a subordinate firefighter on two occasions in July of 2014.

The alleged victim, a part-time Lakeville firefighter in his 20s, says Thomas Dunlevy, 51, who was his supervisor at the time, raped him after giving him alcohol, first at a campground in Wareham and then at a Lakeville home about a week later, according to the Plymouth district attorney’s office and the firefighter’s lawyer.

The firefighter reported the alleged crimes to Lakeville police on March 9, and Dunlevy resigned from the Fire Department after the allegations came to light.

Dunlevy was arraigned March 28 in Wareham District Court on charges pertaining to the Lakeville home: rape, assault and battery, procuring alcohol for a minor, and intimidation of a witness. He pleaded not guilty to the charges, said Beth Stone, a spokeswoman for Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz.

In connection with the Wareham location, Wareham police subsequently added charges of rape, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, and selling liquor to a person under 21. Dunlevy was arraigned on those charges April 1; the court clerk had no record of a plea.

Neither Dunlevy nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.

WCVB-TV (Channel 5) reported that Dunlevy was allowed to retire with full benefits, but the attorney for the town of Lakeville, Michele Randazzo, told the Globe in an e-mail that the Plymouth County retirement board would be the body to make a decision, if any, about Dunlevy’s pension, in accordance with state law.

David Sullivan, executive director of the Plymouth County Retirement Association, said in an e-mail the law demands that a public employee forfeit a pension after conviction of a crime related to his or her office. That would not apply in this case, he said.

Lakeville Fire Chief Daniel Hopkins did not return calls seeking comment, and Selectman Aaron Burke, acting as chairman of the board, referred calls to Randazzo.

The alleged victim’s lawyer, Tyler Fox, of Cambridge, said in an interview that his client says Dunlevy routinely provided firefighters with alcohol. His client was underage during at least one of the alleged incidents, he said.

Through his lawyer, the accuser declined to be interviewed. He told WCVB that he had looked up to Dunlevy as a father figure, and that at the time of the alleged rapes, he was drunk and afraid. He couldn’t fight, so he froze, he said.

Dunlevy is free on bail pending a pretrial hearing April 26, according to the court clerk’s office.

Fox said his client is considering a civil lawsuit against the town.

Asked about such a potential lawsuit, Randazzo said that as far the town is aware, the alleged conduct did not happen while either man was on duty or on town property, and no town official knew about the alleged conduct at the time.

Jennette Barnes can be reached at jennettebarnes@yahoo.com.