New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday, July 2, State Police Communications received a 911 call from a person who said a family member – a 25-year-old woman – was reporting to her family and a friend that she was a passenger in an Uber vehicle and was being sexually assaulted and accosted by the driver while traveling from Methuen to Norwood. State Police immediately put out a BOLO (Be On the LookOut) alert for the driver’s vehicle, a brown 2007 Toyota Camry. State Police determined the victim’s destination in Norwood and rushed to that house, but missed the suspect, who had just dropped off the victim, by just a few minutes.
A subsequent investigation by troopers determined the following sequence of events: The victim told troopers that she had called the ride service from a friend’s house in Methuen shortly before 5 a.m. and requested that she be driven to another friend’s house in Norwood. The victim stated that when she was picked up, having never used an Uber vehicle before, she asked the driver where she should sit; he told her to sit in the front seat. The route the vehicle took was along Routes 93 and 95. Several minutes into the ride, the driver allegedly began asking the victim personal questions about relationships, and then repeatedly asked her to kiss him, which she continually refused to do. At one point during the ride the driver asked the victim to “friend request” him on the social media application SnapChat, and handed her his phone to do so.
The victim stated that after his unsuccessful requests to kiss her, the driver allegedly began touching her inappropriately and making obscene and sexually-themed statements, and at one point grabbed her arm and pulled it toward her body. Throughout the assault the victim turned her body away from the driver in an attempt to impede his ability to touch her. According to the victim, the assaultive and accosting behavior ceased several minutes before the driver dropped her off at her destination in Norwood; the driver immediately drove away. Moments later, troopers from the State Police Barracks in Foxboro arrived at that house, checked on the victim’s condition, and transported her to the Norwood Police Department.
Trooper from the Foxboro Barracks and State Police Troop H detectives interviewed the victim at the Norwood station. In addition to her description of the driver and his behavior, the victim was also able to provide information about him from the Uber confirmation she received when she booked the ride and from social media accounts belonging to the driver, which she had been able to see when he handed her his phone. The victim told troopers she was in fear for her safety throughout the prolonged incident.
Troopers identified the driver as JUNIOR CLARKE, 31, of Lawrence. Troopers responded to his residence Saturday but did not locate him there. Later on Saturday, troopers made contact with CLARKE, who agreed to meet them at the Andover Barracks. After advising CLARKE of his Miranda rights, and receiving his acknowledgement that he understood those rights, Trooper Michael Guerriero interviewed him. At the conclusion of the interview, Trooper Guerriero placed CLARKE under arrest for the following offenses: 1.) Indecent Assault and Battery on a Person 14 or Over; 2.) Assault and Battery; and 3.) Accosting/Annoying a Person of the Opposite Sex.
CLARKE was booked at the Andover Barracks; a bail clerk set a $40 bail fee, which CLARKE posted. Troopers determined, based on the locations of the alleged crimes during the ride, that the offenses occurred in Middlesex County. CLARKE is expected to be arraigned in Woburn District Court. At this point, we have been advised that that arraignment will be held on Thursday.
