Following the details aired in court Friday, the public is left to believe either veteran Peabody police officer Fred Wojick repeatedly sexually molested a young child a female family member for years or the girl is really lying to get revenge on Wojick for trying to split up her and her boyfriend.
Wojick, a year-old patrolman in the Peabody Police Department, was arraigned Friday morning in Peabody District Court on six counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and one count of dissemination of obscene material watching pornography with the girl.
The Peabody native, who is currently living in Danvers, joined his hometown department nearly 12 years ago and is a decorated officer, most recently receiving three formal commendations for actions in the line of duty from Police Chief Robert Champagne at the department's annual awards ceremony last year. Wojick was arrested Thursday night at 7 p. Wojick was held overnight and appeared in court with his attorney Tom Drechsler.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on personal recognizance by Judge Matthew Nestor and ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim or her mother and not leave the state. Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall outlined a history of alleged overt sexual behavior and remarks toward the young girl over four years, from the time she was 10 until The girl, now 17, did not come forward with the allegations, however, until about a week ago, according to MacDougall.
The girl told investigators she didn't speak up before because she didn't want to hurt her mother, who had a good relationship with Wojick. MacDougall said, prior to the girl's confession, Wojick had confided in a fellow Peabody officer he was having serious personal problems and that his family life was in shambles. Wojick then allegedly said he sometimes joked around and slapped the girl's backside, but did not indicate the behavior went any further than that.
