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Former Martha’s Vineyard fire chief arrested for allegedly recording sex act without consent
The former chief of the Oak Bluffs Fire Department on Martha's Vineyard was arrested Saturday for filming a video of someone performing sexual acts on him without their consent, the Cape and Islands District Attorney announced.
The former fire chief of Oak Bluffs’s department was arrested Saturday for allegedly filming a video of someone performing sexual acts on him without their consent, the Cape and Islands District Attorney announced.
53-year-old John Rose, who was the chief of Oak Bluffs Fire Department on Martha’s Vineyard for seven years, was charged with photographing, videotaping, or electronically surveilling partially nude or nude persons.
The Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said state police launched their investigation on Dec. 14 after their office received a report that Rose possessed “a video recording of an individual performing sexual acts on him, and that this was done without this individual’s consent.”
Rose’s departure from West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs
The charges come after Rose was suspended from his new fire department role in neighboring West Tisbury. His indefinite suspension was due to a court-held harassment prevention order against him, the Vineyard Gazette reported.
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West Tisbury said they gave Rose a “second chance” in 2022 after he stepped down from Oak Bluffs two years earlier. He resigned as chief amid allegations of sexual harassment against him and a federal inquiry into the town’s ambulance finances, the Gazette reported at the time. Oak Bluffs ended up paying the former town worker who accused Rose of harassment almost $100,000.
Rose is currently being held without bail and is expected in Edgartown District Court Monday, the DA said.
“Due to the nature of these charges, the Cape & Island District Attorney’s Office will make no further comment at this time regarding the charges against John Rose,” Galibois’s office said in a statement.
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