Veteran who really wanted to be a cop has bail set at $50,000 on charges he raped two prostitutes at gunpoint

A Swampscott man was ordered held in lieu of bail today on charges he picked up two prostitutes in separate incidents along Massachusetts Avenue in the Newmarket Square area and raped them, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Should Joseph Losano, 51, make bail, he would be required to stay out of Boston until his case came to trial, wear a GPS device to ensure that and to stay away from his alleged victims, the DA's office adds.

According to the DA's office:

In each case, a man matching Losano’s description and driving a white pickup truck consistent with the one used by Losano picked the victim up in the area of Massachusetts Avenue while she was engaged in prostitution. The victims were driven to unknown locations believed to be outside of the city of Boston and forced at gunpoint onto a mattress in the bed of the truck, where each was subjected to sexual acts against her will, [Assistant DA Ian] Polumbaum told the court. The victims in each assault were driven back to Boston, where one was sexually assaulted.

Losano, who served tours of duty with the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, National Guard and Air Force Reserves in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq, among other places, unsuccessfully tried several times for a career in law enforcement, first as a reserve officer in Swampscott, then as a trooper in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Swampscott rejected him - and asked the state Civil Service Commission to permanently bar him from lists of eligible candidates - because of an incident involving a gun that led the town police chief to revoke his gun license. In 2006, Losano won a $40,000 verdict in a federal lawsuit against the police chief, arguing the chief violated his First Amendment rights by allegedly blocking his appointment as a reserve officer to get back at him for filing an appeal of his license revocation.

Massachusetts State Police then rejected him, because of a 1995 incident in which he violated a restraining order against him by talking to the mother of the woman who had gotten the restraining order. . According to a ruling by the Civil Service Commission, he then applied for a job as a New Hampshire state trooper, but was rejected as unsuitable for reasons that included:

• Finding of Fact #10: When asked by (a New Hampshire Trooper) if he had been involved in many fights while growing up, the Appellant responded that he had.
• When asked if anyone had been injured, he responded, "some people were severely hurt";
• Finding of Fact #11: (The Trooper) asked the Appellant if he had been in a fight, "where he actually bit a portion of someone's ear off?" The Appellant responded, "that might have happened";
• Finding of Fact #12: (The Trooper) noted that the Appellant's demeanor was cocky and he had a smile on his face while saying, "no one messed with me"

Boston Police are continuing to investigate Losano's activities and urge any woman who might have been attacked by him to contact sexual-assault detectives at 617-343-4400. Anonymous tips can be called into 800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

Innocent, etc.