Marine Veteran Charged With 2 Armed Rapes In Pickup Truck
ROXBURY (CBS) – A Marine veteran has been charged with two rapes in Boston and police are looking for more alleged victims.
Officers arrested 51-year-old Joseph Losano of Swampscott Tuesday and charged him with two counts of rape involving two different victims in two separate cases. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday in Roxbury Municipal Court and was ordered held on $50,000 bail.
Losano did not appear in the courtroom. He stood behind a closed door and his mug shot was not made public because prosecutors want to keep him out of view in case potential future victims need to identify him in a lineup.
Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said Losano picked up prostitutes in Boston, drove them to communities outside of the city and raped them at gunpoint on a mattress in the bed of his pickup truck.
"Other people have come forward and reported similar incidents but we're not in a position where we're able to charge anybody with those at this point," Polumbaum told reporters outside court.
Losano served two tours in Iraq with the Marines and is a licensed gun owner. He has five guns and he was ordered to surrender all of them Wednesday. Losano's original application for a gun license was denied in Swampscott, but he appealed and won.
Losano had also applied for jobs as a police officer in Swampscott, Massachusetts State Police, and New Hampshire State Police, but he was not hired. Reasons he did not get the jobs include a restraining order against him and because he may have admitted to biting a portion of someone's ear off during a fight.
He has faced criminal charges in previous cases that were dismissed. In one case, he won $40,000 in a lawsuit in which he claimed aggressive prosecution.
He currently works in loss prevention offices in retail, but his attorney said Losano won't be able to pay the $50,000 bail.
Boston Police are encouraging anyone who may have allegedly been victimized by Losano to call them at (617) 343-4400, 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word 'TIP' to CRIME (27463).
