KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A damning indictment against former KCKPD detective Roger Golubski details incidents of sexual assault, sexual abuse and attempted kidnapping while he was on the job.
A grand jury filed the indictment Wednesday, and Golubski faces six counts of deprivation of civil rights for offenses dating back to at least 1998.
The FBI arrested Golubski Thursday morning at his Edwardsville home.
The indictment outlines the horrors victims have described for decades — that Golubski used his power and badge to sexually assault and harass women.
The allegations don't end with sexual assault. He also faces accusations that he framed people for crimes they didn't commit, coerced people with drugs to give statements, and terrorized the Black community.
His actions fed into the overall culture within the department in the 80s and 90s.
Golubski retired in 2010 and then went to work at the Edwardsville Police Department until 2016.
That was around the time when Lamonte McIntyre's team filed motions for his exoneration.
McIntyre was stuck in prison for 23 years for a murder he had nothing to do with — fingers pointed at Golubski, who was in charge of the case in 1994.
McIntyre's team said Golubski framed him for the murder because his mother refused Golubski's sexual advances.
He was released from prison in 2017 and recently won a $12.5 million settlement with the city.
"There is more to justice than just Golubski," Lucas Behrens, community organizer with MORE2, said. "We've called for a full pattern-or-practice investigation from the Department of Justice into the entire department in KCK."
Social justice groups, like MORE2, started demanding that Golubski be held accountable.
In 2019, the FBI started subpoenaing the KCK police department regarding the allegations and the cases Golubski was in charge of.
A grand jury started pulling people in to testify.
Team Roc — the philanthropic arm of Jay-Z's Roc Nation — got involved, also demanding that the DOJ open a pattern-or-practice investigation into the department.
Team Roc reacted to the news of Golubski's arrest on Thursday.
"I think the arrest of Roger Golubski is a really important step, but we also still stand in solidarity with the Kansas City community and all the victims that have not seen justice yet," Dania Diaz, managing director of Team Roc, said.
We interviewed Rev. Rick Behrens last year, who worked as KCKPD's police chaplain during the time Golubski was there, about his reaction to the grand jury news.
He said many people have not had faith in the justice system for a long time, and that finally Wyandotte County should start righting the wrongs.
"If this grand jury works out the way that we believe it's going to, then there's going to be some reckoning," Behrens said in 2021.
MORE2 said other people are responsible, too.
"I hope it causes people to continue to look into the actions of the police department within the past decades," Behrens said. "People knew what he was doing and they didn't call him to account for his actions."
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