For years, Roger Golubski has been the subject of brazen legends in Wyandotte County. The former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective was known for terrorizing the county’s Black residents.
He allegedly built cases against men by forcing individuals to testify falsely against them. But he was best known for allegedly raping and molesting Black women in the community.
The extent of his actions’ cruelty was laid out vividly in the documentation building the six federal charges filed against him Sept. 16.
If that wasn’t enough, during Golubski’s bail hearing on Sept. 19, prosecutors detailed even more horrific claims against him made by six more women.
Similar recurring themes showed up in many of the stories. Golubski liked driving the women – in some cases girls – to remote places like cemeteries or country roads. Sexual acts were pretty much always involved. There was fondling, oral sex and sexual intercourse.
Most consistent were the threats. If they told, then something bad would happen to them, their children, a family member or someone they loved. Other threats included: he’d kill them, have someone else kill them, their bodies would never be found, and no one would believe them over him.
With all of these terrible acts, why wasn’t Golubski charged with something equally foul, like rape, sodomy or even statutory rape – the rape of a minor. One of his victims was reportedly a minor whom Golubski repeatedly raped over several years.
Instead, Golubski was charged with violating his alleged victims’ civil rights. Why?
Despite years of complaints being made against him, the city, county and state all failed to take any legal action against him. As time passed, the statute of limitations expired on many of the rape cases, which allegedly occurred more than 20 years ago, closing that path to building a case against him. (In 2013, the statute of limitations on rape cases was eliminated in Kansas.)
His position as a police officer from 1975 until his 2010 retirement more than likely played into their failure to act on the complaints, but his position eventually played a major role in the formulation of the case against him.
Attention on Golubski began to heat up when Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree’s investigation led to the release of LaMont McIntyre, who had served 23 years in jail for a double homicide.
McIntyre always maintained his innocence and said he was convicted based on a false case against him built by Golubski in retaliation for his mother denying the detective’s advances.
Local nonprofits began bringing attention to Golubski’s history of abuse, which picked up national attention and the attention of the U.S. Attorney’s office. After thorough investigation, they built a case against Golubski using federal laws. This is where Golubski’s role as a police officer really mattered.
The Department of Justice was able to bring charges on Golubski using a rarely used federal statute that makes it a crime for a person acting under “color of law” to deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. According to Justice.gov, “color of law” includes acts done by federal, state, or local officials within their lawful authority, but “also acts done beyond the bounds of that official’s lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties.”
They were able to build their charges against Golubski using this statute because he used the power or perceived authority of his position as a police officer while conducting these acts. Golubski was known for flashing his badge when cornering women and using reported “investigations” as a reason to get women in vulnerable situations.
The official charges against Golubski are depriving two women of their civil rights through kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and sexual assault.
There is no statute of limitation on these charges if they involve death or serious bodily harm. The rape charges are being identified as serious bodily harm.
##