SALEM, Mass. — After allegedly raping and fondling a 23-year-old woman, Officer Kevin Sledge teased her friend and asked her out to dinner. That was the testimony of Regina Perry, 25, of Pelham, N.H., yesterday in Salem Superior Court.
Fourteen jurors will begin deliberations Tuesday to decide whether Sledge raped, kidnapped and indecently assaulted Perry's friend.
Perry testified she was out at two clubs with the alleged victim on Sept. 26, 2008, but lost contact with her. That is when Sledge, in police uniform, picked up the drunken woman at Jackson and Haverhill streets in his Jaguar and left her in the car outside the police station while he returned to his post. The alleged victim testified while she lay drunk and in and out of sleep, Sledge returned to the car four or five times.
Perry testified that Sledge called her and told her he had picked up her friend and she was at the police station. When she arrived at the station, Perry said Sledge directed her to a parking lot on the side of the building where she found her friend in the reclined passenger seat of the officer's Jaguar.
Sledge told Perry he had "saved" the woman from a "sticky situation" at Jackson and Haverhill streets, where he found her drunk and in the company of three young men, she said.
"He said, 'She could have gotten raped or God knows what else up there,'" said Perry. "He said he had saved her."
Perry had another drunken friend in her own car and Sledge told her to drive him to his Methuen home and come back for the girl. Perry testified she said she initially said no but Sledge "was really persistent."
"When an authoritative figure tells you what to do, you listen," said Perry.
It took Perry about 55 minutes to return to the station, where she said she shook her friend awake, walked her to her car and put her in the passenger's seat. Perry said Sledge followed and got into the back seat.
Perry said she had some clothing and lingerie in the car and Sledge picked up one of her bras and started teasing her. Perry said he then asked her to have dinner with him. Then her friend spoke.
"He had his hands in me the whole time," the woman said, suddenly realizing Sledge was in the car.
"Who, me?" Sledge asked.
Perry said she waved Sledge out of the car, saying "never mind" and it was time to go home. But before she left, Sledge told Perry he hadn't done anything to her friend.
"He said, 'Maybe it was one of those other guys. ... And it's the last time I look out for somebody,'" Perry recalled.
Perry said she then drove around to the front of the police station and questioned her friend alone.
"I swear to God on my kids — he had his hands inside me the whole time," is what Perry said her friend told her.
As they sat in front of the station, Sledge came out and went to Perry's car. He asked her if she was going to "say something."
"He asked if we were going to go into the police station," she said. She told him she wasn't talking to him anymore and to back away.
Perry and her friend then entered the police station. Again, they encountered Sledge, who was now standing at the front desk, she said.
"I explained to him we weren't going to talk to him anymore and we wanted to talk to his superior officer," Perry said.
Sledge is charged with rape, kidnapping and indecent assault. Prosecutor Kate MacDougall said Sledge used his position as a police officer to prey on a drunken young woman. Defense attorney John Morris has said Sledge was trying to help the woman who he found stranded early that morning in downtown Lawrence.
Both the prosecution and defense rested yesterday. Sledge did not take the stand in his own defense.
Under cross-examination, Morris asked Perry if her friend told her she'd been in a van with three men earlier that night. The alleged victim previously testified she accepted a ride in Hector Fernandez's minivan before she encountered Sledge.
Perry said she did not recall her friend immediately telling her that.
Jurors also watched 40 minutes of surveillance video taken from the Lawrence police booking room and connecting garage, which showed Sledge leaving his post 11 times.
Sledge's trial spanned four days this past week. In earlier testimony, the alleged victim said she remembered waking up when Sledge was touching her hair, buttocks and legs, when he was laying on top of her and when his hand was in her pants.
Under cross-examination, however, the woman said Sledge's car was not locked and Sledge did not prevent her from leaving the car.
Two superior officers, Sgts. John Dushame and Steven Scheffen, testified that Lawrence officers are not allowed to drive their personal cars while on duty. Officers leaving the station to grab a bite to eat would take a police car in case an emergency occurred while they are out. The morning of Sept. 26, 2008, Sledge took his personal car, a Jaguar, when he left the station while on duty.
Scheffen also testified that an officer who encountered a drunk person would have that individual taken to Lawrence General Hospital for evaluation. He or she would not be returned to the police station.
Sledge has been on unpaid suspension since he was indicted by the Essex County grand jury in the case. He was previously acquitted of a rape charge in 1999.
