By Patrick Anderson
Staff Writer
February 19, 2009 11:12 am Prosecutors have dropped child rape charges against former Gloucester City Councilor Walter Brian Galvin, who was accused in 2006 of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall, the prosecutor in the case, said in court documents that reluctance on the part of the alleged victim to testify had caused the state to abandon the prosecution. A trial would have caused the girl, 13 years old at the time of the first alleged abuse and now 17, "permanent harm," MacDougall wrote, and would "only further to traumatize the named victim and jeopardize her well-being." Close to the Galvin family when she first reported abuse, the alleged victim was the only direct witness and her testimony was essential to the case. Living in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families since reporting the abuse, the alleged victim had met with prosecutors multiple times in preparation for a trial that was pushed back from last October, to January, to April. The alleged victim had changed or recanted parts of her story in the past, Galvin's defense attorney, Edward Pasquina, said yesterday. Attempts to reach Galvin yesterday were unsuccessful, but Pasquina said in a prepared statement that, throughout the more than two years of prosecution, the 54-year-old businessman had been confident that he would be "exonerated." "Although my client suffered great pain and embarrassment, he is grateful to his family and friends that had exhibited support throughout this harsh ordeal," Pasquina's statement said. The manager of an oil company in Hamilton when he was accused, Galvin was arrested in November 2006 by Gloucester police, who were alerted to allegations against him by the state Department of Social Services. DSS began probing the issue when the alleged victim wrote a journal entry at school referring to abuse and then told her teacher that her attacker had asked her not to mention it to anyone else. The teacher filed a report with the Department of Social Services as mandated by state law. In interviews with police and prosecutors, the alleged victim recounted numerous instances of sexual attacks beginning in May 2005 and continuing for more than a year and took place in locations including Galvin's truck, boat and house. A grand jury indicted Galvin on five counts of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery at the end of November 2006, sending the case from Gloucester District Court to Salem Superior Court. After the arrest, Galvin and his wife took out a second mortgage on their Goodwin Road home to post the $75,000 bail needed to gain his release from jail. The terms of his release prohibited Galvin from contact with children under the age of 16, and he needed the permission of his wife to visit his two children. He was forced to move out of his house. After the arrest, detectives tried to seize a hard drive from Galvin's computer that reportedly contained pornography, but found the equipment removed from the computer when they searched his house. The hard drive was never recovered by police or prosecutors. A hunter, according to prosecutors, Galvin was ordered to turn over his passport and numerous firearms in his house. Galvin served as the Ward 2 City Councilor from 1991 to 1993, when he was unseated by current Councilor John "Gus" Foote. Galvin has also served on the city's Board of Health. If he had been convicted, Galvin faced a possible life sentence. His trial had been scheduled to begin April 21. Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com
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