Just days before graduation, police have charged a Pembroke Academy senior with raping, assaulting and terrorizing female classmates.
Griffin Furlotte, 18, of Pembroke is accused of violently sexually assaulting three girls, ages 14 to 17. Prosecutors allege he recorded one of the rapes in summer 2018 and posted it to Snapchat, and threatened to share nude photos of the same victim.
“The state contends the defendant is a danger to the female juveniles named in these complaints, as well as the public generally and to himself,” Assistant County Attorney Ashlie Hooper said during a bail hearing Monday in Merrimack County Superior Court.
Hooper told the court that Furlotte previously told the girls not to go to the police, made suicidal threats from a Concord parking garage and remarked to one girl that “leaving him would be lethal.”
“All of these female juveniles are scared,” Hooper said. “They’re in fear of the defendant, both from the physical violence they endured as well as the threats he’s made in terms of having photos or sending photos to other people.”
Furlotte currently faces nine criminal charges, but authorities say they’re concerned about the possibility of more victims. As that investigation continues, a judge has ordered Furlotte to remain incarcerated at the county jail.
While Hooper requested preventative detention, the defense argued for Furlotte’s release on personal recognizance, even if that court order also included mandatory home confinement. Attorney Kevin Collimore, who stood in Monday for Charles Keefe, said Furlotte “vehemently denies” the charges against him and will fight them.
Collimore said Furlotte turned 18 in January and that the “vast majority” of the alleged conduct occurred when he was a minor. Further, he said Pembroke police seized his computer and cellphone in October 2018 and never charged him as a result of those searches.
“He lives at home. He just turned 18 years old. He works at Dunkin’ Donuts as a customer service person. He has no previous criminal record, your honor,” Collimore said.
He added that Collimore will graduate this Saturday, except he will not walk with his class as he is now prohibited from being on the campus of Pembroke Academy.
Furlotte is charged with four counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, as well as one count each of dissemination of private sexual images and the publication of child sexual abuse images. He also faces three counts of second-degree assault, one of which is domestic violence-related.
Prosecutors allege he pinned down a 14-year-old girl in July 2018 and recorded the sexual assault. He is also accused of forcing a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual acts while grabbing her hair between January and March. Hooper said that victim told police “he would frequently choke her.”
A 17-year-old girl also disclosed that Furlotte had raped her and choked her during a nonconsensual encounter in August 2018.
After hearing bail arguments Monday, Judge John Kissinger Jr. said release would endanger the public.
“I have reviewed the affidavits and to be candid they describe sexual assaults allegedly with three separate minor victims that are very, very disturbing. Given the nature of the allegations and what’s contained in the affidavits, I find that preventative detention is appropriate in this case,” Kissinger said.
At the request of the defense, an evidentiary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday to further consider bail arguments and to hear from witnesses.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319 or at adandrea@cmonitor.com.)