PROVIDENCE, R.I. --A Providence police officer was accused Wednesday of raping a 19-year-old woman at a deserted police substation, then showing up at a nearby home when the woman called 911 to report the alleged attack, prosecutors said.

A grand jury indicted patrolman Marcus Huffman, 37, on a single count of first-degree sexual assault, said Michael Healey, a spokesman for Attorney General Patrick Lynch.

Huffman allegedly met the woman while on-duty March 18 at Platforms Dance Club near the city's harbor. The woman was turned away by the club's owner because she appeared intoxicated, and the officer offered her a ride home, Healey said.

Instead, Huffman allegedly drove her to a police substation that prosecutors believe was deserted and raped her inside.

The woman later walked to a nearby relative's house and called 911, Healey said. Huffman was dispatched to the scene. Two other police officers who happened to be in the area also went to the home, although Huffman was the senior officer there and handled the complaint.

"He later filed a report which we allege failed to include important facts, among which were any mention of the incident involving him and the victim," Healey said.

State Police detectives are still investigating the case. An arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 15.

Providence Police officials told WPRI-TV, which first reported details about the case in March, that Huffman has been suspended without pay. His attorney did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Huffman has run into legal trouble during his 13 years on the police force.

In 1998, a district court judge convicted him of three misdemeanor counts of simple assault for wrestling the director of the Registry of Motor Vehicles into a headlock and attacking two other employees.

The fight erupted as Huffman, who was off-duty, attempted to fix a vehicle paperwork problem near the close of the business day. He received a one-year suspended sentence.

That same year, Huffman was suspended without pay for two days for skipping a closed-door hearing concerning a brutality complaint filed against him. At the time, he was accused of beating a 14-year-old boy with a night stick.

Earlier in his career, Huffman was accused of two separate sex crimes, but never convicted.

Months after joining the police department, prosecutors charged Huffman, then 25, with having sexual relations with a 10-year-old girl while he was 16 and 17.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the charges. The judge said the decision was based on what a Family Court judge would probably have done had Huffman been accused as a teenager. The judge noted there was no evidence of coercion or force.

Minutes after that acquittal, prosecutors charged Huffman with trying to extort sex from a convicted prostitute while on duty. Prosecutors agreed to resubmit the case to another grand jury after obtaining evidence suggesting the purported victim was lying.

The second grand jury didn't press charges, and the case was dropped.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2007/08/01/police_officer_charged_with_molesting_woman_at_police_station/