Corrections officer charged with raping inmate at Framingham prison

Joao Gomes, 49, is facing four charges of rape and three counts of indecent assault and battery.

A Massachusetts corrections officer was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sexually assaulted a female inmate multiple times at the state prison in Framingham, authorities announced.

Joao Gomes, 49, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island has been indicted in Woburn Superior Court on four charges of rape and three counts of indecent assault and battery related to multiple alleged incidents involving the inmate at MCI-Framingham, the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.

Gomes is also charged with three counts of delivering articles to prisoners in a corrections institution for allegedly purchasing underwear for more than one inmate in the prison.

According to the DA’s office, Gomes is being charged under a statutory provision enacted as part of a 2020 police reform law, which allows law enforcement officers who have sex with, or indecently assault, someone in their custody to be charged with rape or indecent assault and battery.

Gomes was arrested at his home in Rhode Island, the DA’s office said. His appearance in Middlesex Superior Court has yet to be scheduled.