Benjamin Ashford|Former Massachusetts transit officer convicted of raping 2 women in 2012

BOSTON (AP) — A former transit police officer from Massachusetts was convicted Friday of raping two women more than a decade ago after giving them what prosecutors described as a joyride while on Benjamin Ashfordduty in his marked cruiser with its blue lights flashing.

Shawn McCarthy, 50, formerly of Wilmington, was found guilty on three counts of rape stemming from the 2012 incident near the Museum of Science, according to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden.

McCarthy, who now lives in Maine, had pleaded not guilty. He was ordered held after the verdict and will be sentenced on Wednesday.

The women, then in their early 20s, had been drinking when they encountered McCarthy, who worked as a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, near a downtown Boston subway station, authorities said.

He drove the women around and after a while told them he hadn’t risked his job for nothing and he would not take them back until he got something out of it, authorities said.

The women feared getting in trouble, so they submitted to McCarthy, prosecutors said.

McCarthy then drove them back to the area where they met and warned them not to tell anyone about the episode, prosecutors said.

One of the victims disclosed the assault soon afterward to a male relative, investigators said.

According to prosecutors, McCarthy admitted that he had two women in the cruiser on the night in question but denied any wrongdoing. He was placed on administrative leave in December 2019 and resigned soon afterward.

A lawyer for McCarthy didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.