[Source via Boston Globe By Lea Skene and Travis Andersen]
PLYMOUTH — A suspended Plymouth police officer and her husband were charged Thursday with child rape after they were accused last week of sexually assaulting a boy they assumed guardianship of several years ago.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office said Officer Samantha Pelrine, 31, and her husband, Daniel J. Forand, 37, were arrested at their home without incident. They were quickly released on bail after appearing in court Thursday afternoon.
Details about the allegations remain unclear because many of the court documents have been placed under a protective order. But, according to records filed in prior court cases, the arrests come after years of complaints against Forand from neighbors, local officials, police, and his former wife. Those records paint a picture of a volatile, paranoid man whose behavior has often alarmed the people around him.
The sexual assault case arose from a request for a restraining order filed last week. In the request, the applicant said the couple abused him as a child after taking him into their home in 2018.
Now in his early 20s, the applicant said his grandmother and aunt raised him from ages 3 to 12. When he turned 12, his aunt’s “church friends Daniel Forand and Samantha Pelrine took me into their home to raise me,” he wrote in an affidavit.
The sexual assault case arose from a request for a restraining order filed last week. In the request, the applicant said the couple abused him as a child after taking him into their home in 2018.
Now in his early 20s, the applicant said his grandmother and aunt raised him from ages 3 to 12. When he turned 12, his aunt’s “church friends Daniel Forand and Samantha Pelrine took me into their home to raise me,” he wrote in an affidavit.
The couple was granted legal guardianship about a year later, he said.
“Shortly after they became my guardians, they both sexually assaulted me until 2025 and physically assaulted me until 2026,” the man wrote. He said only Forand perpetrated the physical assaults.
The man said he moved out of their house in February.
“They are looking for me, and I’m scared for my safety,” he wrote.
A judge granted the restraining order, which expires Friday afternoon, and Pelrine was suspended from the police department.
She’s charged with three counts of felony aggravated child rape with force and one count of rape of a child, records show.
In a statement on Thursday, Plymouth police said they were “appalled and deeply disturbed by the allegations.” They said the department will conduct a “timely and thorough” internal investigation.
“The conduct alleged is in violation of our values and of our basic principles as police officers, to serve and protect,” they said.
Forand is facing 20 counts alleging aggravated child rape, both by force and by an age difference of at least 10 years; indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or older; assault and battery; and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
After the defendants were arraigned Thursday afternoon in Plymouth District Court, cash bail was set at $10,000 for Pelrine and $25,000 for Forand. Not guilty pleas were entered for both, and they are slated to return to court June 8. The judge’s protective order in the case effectively seals the court record from public view.
Documents from an earlier case shed some light on Forand’s past behavior and reputation within the local community.
In 2019, police in Plymouth asked a judge to issue an order denying Forand a gun license, citing a laundry list of problems and conflicts, including numerous allegations of harassment and trespassing. Police described “one incident wherein Mr. Forand texted his estranged wife 436 times in a 13-hour period and another wherein he telephoned another person 700 times in a short period of time.”
His neighbors repeatedly complained about Forand mistreating his animals, which included horses, goats, chickens, and pigs. They complained about him shooting guns on his property, chasing a neighbor’s dog with a machete, and using binoculars to watch them.
“He yells at people, it appears mostly women, and has put all of them in fear of him. His personality is that of a controlling, erratic and angry person,” a police officer wrote. “He is manipulative and sinister.”
The filing said Forand’s then-wife obtained a restraining order against him in January 2016, writing that she feared for her own life and her daughter’s.
The police department’s request on the gun license was dismissed in February 2020, after Forand “opted to discontinue the application process,” records show.
Forand appeared in court Thursday wearing a dark gray Carhartt sweatshirt and camo Crocs. He stood quietly in handcuffs.
Defense attorneys for him and Pelrine declined to comment after the proceeding.
At Forand’s Plymouth property Thursday evening, a wooden gate blocked access to the driveway. A “no trespassing” sign by the road said, among other things: “Jesus already loves us.”
Neighbors were mostly reluctant to comment on the arrests, saying they were shocked and alarmed at the allegations. Several declined to be named because of safety concerns.
They said Forand had a pest control business and some farm animals.
He displayed right-wing political symbols, including a giant Trump sign and a Tea Party flag. He was known in the neighborhood for being somewhat unpredictable, but other times he would lend out tools or help clear a neighbor’s driveway after a snowstorm, residents said.
In 2024, Forand requested a restraining order against one of his neighbors, claiming the man had been harassing him, including “hiding in my outdoor shower dressed in camo with a rifle.” The man had threatened to damage Forand’s reputation and impact his business, according to the affidavit. The neighbor filed his own affidavit saying Forand would often play music too loudly.
Court records also reference Forand’s 2017 divorce from his previous wife, who told police he was abusive, especially after their daughter was born. The documents also mention the alleged victim in the case filed this week. In a 2020 court filing, the woman’s lawyer said their daughter had been injured while in Forand’s care.
“When asked what happened, she told me she couldn’t tell me and started crying,” the mother wrote.
Since the divorce, police had been “involved with the family on at least 15 occasions,” the filing said, and the state’s Department of Children and Families “has been involved with the family at least three times.”
John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.