NH Police Chief Charged With Sexually Assaulting Girl 15 Years Ago
CANTERBURY, N.H. (CBS/AP) — Canterbury's police chief has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl 15 years ago.
John Laroche, 44, was arrested Tuesday and was due to be arraigned Wednesday.
He's accused of sexually assaulting the girl between 1999 and August of 2000 while he was a police officer in Boscawen, New Hampshire.
The attorney general said Laroche was overseeing the Boscawen Police Explorer Program for young men and women interested in law enforcement careers and the victim was a Police Explorer.
The assault was reported by the alleged victim to Boscawen Police in September 2014.
"It was certainly a surprise to, I would image, everybody in town. It was a surprise to myself and I know the Board of Selectmen were surprised," Canterbury town administrator Ken Folsom told WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
There will be a special selectmen's meeting Wednesday to determine what exactly to do in response to the charges against the chief.
There are a number of options, from doing nothing, to putting Laroche on paid leave, to firing him.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
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