Brockton mayor responds to allegations after a mother confronts him at graduation ceremony
BROCKTON — Days after a woman interrupted Brockton High School’s graduation ceremony to accuse Mayor Moises Rodrigues of inappropriate behavior toward her daughter, the embattled official said Thursday that he feels “lousy” amid the controversy.
“I can’t talk about it because it’s still under investigation,” Rodrigues said in a brief interview following a public event here Thursday. “We will talk about it, once it’s all said and done, but right now we just can’t do it. Because I don’t want to taint the investigation” in any way.
Asked how he feels about the issue, Rodrigues said “Lousy. But you know … there’s not much I can do.”
On Saturday, Rodrigues was delivering a speech at the graduation when he was angrily confronted by a woman, a scene that captured on video and quickly went viral.
“You have to [expletive] get out of here,” the woman can be heard yelling in the clip. “You know what you did to my daughter. You know what you did to my daughter.”
Rodrigues continued his speech without acknowledging the woman, who was escorted off the Marciano Stadium field by officers before she could reach the podium.
The ceremony continued “without further incident,” police said Wednesday.
The woman has not been publicly identified.
Police said Thursday that she was “briefly detained” after the confrontation since she was “creating a disturbance” during the ceremony.
“The individual was subsequently released,” police said. “No arrest was made, and no charges were filed.”
On Monday, a harassment prevention order was filed against Rodrigues, according to the Brockton District Court clerk’s office. It was not clear who filed the order, which was impounded because it involves a juvenile.
On Thursday, court officials said the matter had been transferred to Hingham District Court, where a hearing will be held on June 22 to determine whether the order will be extended or dismissed.
The Plymouth district attorney’s office said Tuesday that a student and their parents had filed a formal complaint against Rodrigues with the city’s public school system. State Police are investigating the complaint, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the nature of the complaint.
But the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Nelson Fernandes, said it stemmed from an interaction Rodrigues had during a recent school parade.
“At the Huntington Day Parade on May 22, someone brought to Mayor Rodrigues’ attention that he had interacted with a student in a way that made the student uncomfortable,” Fernandes said in a statement. “Upon learning of this concern, Mayor Rodrigues fully cooperated with Brockton Public Schools and continues to do so.”
In an interview with the Enterprise of Brockton on Monday, Rodrigues said he did not know the nature of the interaction or which student was involved.
Rodrigues said school officials told him they had received a request that he not attend the graduation ceremony, but he decided to deliver a speech without handing out diplomas, the newspaper reported.
School officials deferred requests for comment to the mayor’s office.
In a statement on Monday, school board member Stephen Pina said he had requested information from administrators and legal counselso the committee can fulfill its responsibilities.
“As a father of four school-age children, a School Committee member, and a Catholic man, I believe every student deserves to feel safe, respected, and protected in our schools and at school-sponsored events,” Pina said. “A significant incident occurred at a district event, and I believe the committee should receive a factual understanding of what occurred, what actions were taken, and whether proper procedures were followed.”
Rodrigues spent 13 years on the Brockton City Council before being elected mayor last year with approximately 51 percent of the vote, a margin of roughly 250 people.
He previously worked as a child protection specialist for the Archdiocese of Boston with a focus on ethnic communities, a spokesperson for the archdiocese said.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. This story will be updated when more information is released.
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