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Local News KEVIN ROONEY WAS PLACED ON UNPAID ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE FROM THE WATERTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT AFTER THE ALLEGED RAPE IN 2021. HE'S FACING A JURY THIS WEEK. A Watertown police

officer is facing multiple charges related to an alleged rape in 2021 — where a rape kit shows bruising on the woman and a likely DNA match to the officer, court documents said. A grand jury

returned an indictment against officer Kevin Rooney in 2022. He’s facing two counts of rape and an incident assault and battery charge in connection to a June 2021 incident when he

allegedly anally raped the woman after a night of drinking in the South End. Rooney has been on unpaid administrative leave from the Watertown Police Department since the incident was

reported, Detective Sergeant Kenneth Swift said. Swift said the department is conducting their own investigation and could not say when Rooney joined the department. Advertisement: According

to the court docket, Rooney’s jury trial in Middlesex Superior Court began Monday. COURT DOCS: “SHE THOUGHT THAT WAS ‘MESSED UP’ GIVEN THE SITUATION AND HE RESPONDED THAT HE ‘REALIZED THAT

NOW'” According to court documents, a woman out drinking with friends at South End restaurant Capo told investigators that after taking a shot, she blacked out. She then woke up next to

a man she didn’t know, later identified as Rooney, who was off-duty. Surveillance video showed the pair in the restaurant dancing and interacting before Rooney led her out just after

midnight. She wasn’t wearing shoes at the time, court documents said. When the woman woke up, she asked Rooney what had happened, and he said she had vomited in the Lyft to his home and in

his bed, according to court docs. Rooney allegedly told her that he had taken off her clothes and his sheets to wash and put her in the shower — where the woman found her wet underwear.

Advertisement: Rooney told the woman she was “handsy” and that they had hooked up, court docs allege. “She became upset and made a comment that she thought that was ‘messed up’ given the

situation and he responded that he ‘realized that now,’” the Commonwealth’s statement of the case said. The woman gathered her belongings, left for home, contacted the police, and went to

the hospital for a rape kit, prosecutors said. The woman had bruising on her arms and thigh and had an abrasion on her upper thigh, the court docs said, and the rape kit showed that the DNA

and sperm most likely came from Rooney. In 2023, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission (POST Commission) suspended Rooney due to the felony charges against him. MOLLY FARRAR

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more. NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Stay up to date on all the latest news from Boston.com