Natick cop James Quilty resigns after pleading guilty to sexual assault

Natick police officer James Quilty resigned Thursday, the town announced, just days after he pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault. His resignation came hours before a town board planned to discuss his future with the department.

Quilty was accused of sexually assaulting a dispatcher in April 2020 during an after-work gathering with other officers in a secluded parking lot. The dispatcher told investigators that Quilty stuck his hand down her pants and groped her. After the other officers left, she said Quilty trapped her in her car, undid her bra, kissed and fondled her, and forced her hand onto his pants over his crotch.

The town fought for more than two years to keep details of the incident secret and initially struck an agreement to keep Quilty on the force after a suspension. He didn't face criminal charges until December 2021, a year and a half after the incident — after both WBUR and a blogger asked for documents about what happened.

Quilty's attorney did not dispute the incident occurred, but previously said in a hearing that Quilty mistakenly thought the interaction was consensual.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger sentenced Quilty to three years probation and ordered him to register as a sex offender and stay away from the victim.

Natick initially refused to release any documents in the case, including an outside investigative report conducted by a law firm.

But after Quilty resigned Thursday, the town released a redacted version of the report, which also faults Cara Rossi, who was a lieutenant with Natick police at the time, for failing to fully investigate and alert her supervisors when she first learned about the incident. Natick suspended Rossi for two days and ordered her to take additional sexual harassment training on her own time, according to documents provided to WBUR. Rossi has since become Ashland's police chief.

Ashland town manager Michael Herbert said the suspension raised red flags, but Rossi was open about what happened.

"I think the most important thing is that Chief Rossi learned from that mistake and is a better supervisor for it," he said.

In a letter to the Natick police chief at the time, Rossi said she thought there was little she could do because the victim had not made the complaint herself and she simply heard a "third-hand rumor."

"I accept my responsibility," she said. "I have learned from my mistake."

However, Rossi also said she was "not the only person who did not follow protocol." And she said she did not feel the punishment was fair, because she has seen other people commit egregious behavior and receive less severe punishment over the years.

"I just don't have the energy or fortitude to fight this," she wrote.

Natick has continued to withhold other documents about the case, including an internal affairs report that mentions other officers, a discrimination complaint filed by the victim and correspondence with the victim's attorney. WBUR is suing the town for the documents.

The town also refused to give Ashland copies of the investigative report and discrimination complaint when it was trying to vet Rossi for the police chief job, Herbert said. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination also refused to release a copy of the two-year-old complaint, saying it has yet to make an initial finding in the case.

The report from the outside investigation in 2020 released this week also suggests the town initially handled the case like an employment matter, rather than a criminal case. The law firm's report mentions violations of the town's sexual harassment policy but does not discuss whether there were any criminal violations or cite any ongoing criminal investigations. Natick also said it has no records of an arrest, police report or request for criminal charges in the case.

The criminal case was handled by the Middlesex District Attorney's office. But in a statement this week, the town said the prosecution was "supported by a comprehensive effort by the town of Natick leadership to respond to and address the allegations of sexual harassment against Quilty, culminating in the guilty plea."