A former Boston firefighter who was placed on leave in 2018 after sexually assaulting a woman inside a city firehouse was convicted Thursday on the charges, prosecutors said.
David Sanchez was found guilty in the West Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 and on assault and battery, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement.
The 39-year-old man from Hyde Park “has resigned from the fire department effective immediately,” Boston Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said in a statement.
“These actions go directly against the values we hold at the Boston Fire Department," the statement said.
The assault took place in April 2018 at the firehouse located on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. A woman went to the station to retrieve her personal belongings, and Sanchez pulled her pants down, exposed himself to her and tried to kiss her, WCVB reported.
“The survivor in this case showed a great degree of strength and courage by standing up for her rights and helping us hold the person who harmed her accountable,” Rollins said in the statement. “That the defendant is a firefighter, a noble profession committed to helping others, and would inflict this harm makes his actions all the more disturbing.”
Sanchez is expected to be sentenced Jan. 24, prosecutors said.
Services for survivors of sexual violence can be found at www.janedoe.org/find_help/search, Rollins’s office said. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center also offers a confidential 24-hour hotline at (800) 841-8371.
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