BOSTON, May 21, 2015—A Lawrence court officer was held on high bail at his arraignment today on charges he sexually assaulted a female defendant at the courthouse, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JOSE MARTINEZ (D.O.B. 12/21/68) of Lawrence was arraigned in Essex Superior Court in Salem on four counts of rape, six counts of indecent assault and battery, and single counts of assault with intent to rape and misleading investigators.  Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, chief of the DA’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Unit, requested that bail be set in the amount of $100,000; Judge John Lu imposed bail of $50,000 and ordered Martinez to wear a GPS monitor and remain under home confinement in the event he is released on bail.

Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett referred the case to Suffolk prosecutors in light of Martinez’s 15-year employment in Lawrence District Court. His case was transferred to Lynn District Court after his March arrest for the same reason; indictments returned Monday by the Essex County Grand Jury moved it to Essex Superior Court where it will be adjudicated.

According to prosecutors, Martinez sexually assaulted the victim in a holding cell, a prisoner elevator, and a stairwell at the Lawrence courthouse on three separate dates in 2009 and 2014 while the victim was in custody on drug and fugitive from justice charges.  She disclosed the 2014 assaults to staff at a jail where she was later held, prompting an investigation by State Police.

During that investigation, Martinez allegedly attempted to mislead State Police detectives by attempting to have a coworker destroy a cell phone that Martinez had hidden inside the Lawrence courthouse before it could be seized by investigators, prosecutors said.

Kerry Kolditz is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Martinez is represented by Hank Brennan.  He returns to court June 19.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.