Trial begins for cop charged with rape

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - An on-duty Providence police officer took advantage of a helpless and incapacitated woman by raping her in a police substation, then showed up to take a report after her aunt called 911, a prosecutor said Thursday on the opening day of a sexual assault trial .

Prosecutor Maureen Keough said officer Marcus Huffman offered the woman a ride home after she was turned away from a nightclub early on March 18, 2007, for being too drunk. Instead, Keough said, Huffman drove her to a substation and raped her.

Huffman was among the officers sent to investigate the allegations, but never mentioned that he had seen the woman earlier that morning or had sexually assaulted her, Keough told jurors.

The woman, who was supposed to be the first witness, wept inconsolably and stared at Huffman as she entered the courtroom to testify. The judge declared a recess so the woman could collect herself, but her brother was called as the first witness instead. It was unclear when or if the alleged victim would testify.

Huffman's lawyer, Robert Caron, declined to give an opening statement. Huffman, who has been suspended without pay from the department, faces charges of first-degree sexual assault.

The alleged victim had been drinking heavily with friends and siblings before heading to a Providence nightclub, according to Keough and testimony from the woman's brother. The club's owner ordered her to leave and the woman's brother told her to wait in the car while the group partied at the club.

The woman instead began to walk away when Huffman drove up beside her in a marked police car and offered her a ride home. She said the officer drove her to a brick building, and the next thing she remembers, she was lying on the bathroom floor with her underwear and bra off. The woman then walked to her aunt's house a few blocks away.

"She tells them, 'I think I was raped, and I think it was a cop,"' Keough said.

The trial opens against the backdrop of pending criminal charges against several other members of the police force.

One officer, Detective Robert DeCarlo, pleaded not guilty last month to charges of beating a restrained man with a flashlight, and three other officers -- including a narcotics detective, a school resource officer and a former driver for Providence Mayor David Cicilline -- were arrested two weeks ago for allegedly participating in a cocaine-dealing operation.

Those officers have not entered pleas yet.

State police say that investigation, called Operation Deception , is continuing and more arrests are expected.