An ex-officer who died in an apparent suicide before his abuse trial was not supposed to have a gun

TOPEKA, Kan. — A former police detective in Kansas who died in an apparent suicide Because he was about to stand trial for sexually assaulting and terrorizing vulnerable women for decades, he was not allowed to have a gun while under house arrest.

Police found Roger Golubski dead on his porch Monday morning after a neighbor reported hearing a gunshot, and there was no evidence of foul play, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. The judge’s order placing Golubski under house arrest stated that he was “not to possess any firearm, destructive device or other weapon.”

Golubski’s death — just as jury selection was set to begin at the federal courthouse in Topeka — raised questions about why the 71-year-old was not behind bars and how a gun ended up in his home in Edwardsville, outside Kansas City. Kansas.

“We will investigate how he obtained the firearm as part of the death investigation,” said agency spokeswoman Melissa Underwood.

Golubski, once a highly regarded detective in Kansas City, was charged in 2022 with six felonies for violating the civil rights of women and girls. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted them and sometimes threatened to throw them or their family members in jail if they didn’t comply.

The trial would focus on two women. One said Golubski began sexually abusing her when she was in high school. The other said he started abusing her after her twin sons were arrested. Prosecutors said seven other women planned to testify that Golubski had also abused or harassed them. Advocates for the women believe there are other victims who have died or are afraid to come forward.

Prosecutors say Golubski, who was white, victimized black women and girls in some of Kansas City’s poorest neighborhoods.

Golubski’s prosecution followed hundreds of cases of abuse across the country where officers lost their badges after allegations of sexual assault.

After Golubski’s death, the judge dismissed the case at the request of prosecutors.

Prosecutors wanted Golubski jailed almost immediately. They asked to take him into custody two days after a federal grand jury indicted him in September 2022.

But American judge Rachel Schwartz rejected their request, and concluded that while the allegations were “shocking,” Golubski did not pose the risk he faced when the alleged abuse occurred years ago.

An attorney for Golubski described him as “sick and weak” and said he needed medical care for diabetes and to recover from quintuple bypass heart surgery. Golubski underwent kidney dialysis three times a week and his trial was scheduled around those treatments.

Golubski’s prosecutors believe he had too much freedom under house arrest. Some of them were especially angry after seeing a video of him at a Culver restaurant following a medical appointment in January. Schwartz then tightened the terms of Golubski’s house arrest, but did not order him detained.

“People’s perception, rightly or wrongly, and regardless of the law, is that if they had been in court under similar circumstances, they probably would have been arrested,” said Cheryl Pilate, an attorney for some of Golubski’s accusers. Tuesday.

Barry Grissom, who served as the top federal prosecutor in Kansas from 2010 to 2016, said Golubski’s longstanding ties to the Kansas City area — something cited by the magistrate — militated against detention. Schwartz ordered Golubski to stay home except for religious services and medical care. He was not allowed to get a passport.

“He had been found not guilty — you know, it hadn’t been proven yet — so he was still, like everyone else, presumed innocent,” Grissom said.

That is unclear.

Sean O’Brien, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said officers allegedly searched Golubski’s home when his house arrest began, but added that “it’s not like they’re watching his house 24/7 kept.”

“But you know, once he gets there – you know, people coming and going – anyone could have brought a gun to him or the search might not have been as thorough,” O’Brien said.

Golubski worked for the Kansas City Police Department for decades before retiring from there in 2010. He then worked for the Edwardsville Police Department and left that department in 2016.

Edwardsville Chief Rance Quinn said in an email Tuesday that the department issues firearms to its officers and allows those in good standing to store them outside the department. The firearm could be a gift for a retiring employee, but Golubski did not receive such a gift when he left in 2016, Quinn said.

Quinn said none of the department’s firearms were missing Monday morning and that “the firearm found at the scene was not the make/model of the firearm used by the Edwardsville Police Department.”

In Kansas City, police officers buy the firearms they will use while on duty from a list of approved weapons and, if they pay the cost themselves, keep them after they leave the department, said spokesperson Nancy Chartrand. It was not immediately clear whether Golubski did so.

Christopher Joseph, Golubski’s lead attorney, said in an email Tuesday that he had expected to meet Golubski Monday morning in Topeka and go to the courthouse about 50 miles west of Golubski’s home in Edwardsville. Golubski had not skipped a court date before Monday.

“I had regular contact with Roger, including during the weekend,” Joseph said. “I didn’t see any warning signs. His defense team was confident in the prospect of an acquittal.”

Joseph said Golubski himself did not believe he could receive a fair trial because of the media coverage of his case and that he did not learn until Monday morning that Golubski was despondent about that reporting.

“Roger’s death should not be considered an admission of guilt,” Joseph said. “Instead, it should be a warning about the power of the media to pick a story and present it as the truth.”

Golubski was at the center of a series of lawsuits and criminal allegations that prompted the Wyandotte County Prosecutor’s Office to launch an investigation. $1.7 million attempt to re-examine cases he worked on during his 35 years on the force.

One double murder case that Golubski investigated resulted in the exemption of a man wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 23 years, and government payments totaling $14 million to the man. A criminal justice organization run by rapper Jay-Z sues to obtain police records.

Pilatus said only a small portion of Golubski’s victims were willing to come forward and that his trial would have been “just a first step toward accountability” for local police and government officials.

“And when the time finally came for accountability, it was pulled away from them,” she said.

Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, Missouri.