Kansas City, KS- A federal grand jury indicted former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski on Thursday on charges that he sexually assaulted two individuals in 1998 and 1999, accusing him of sexual assault, kidnapping and attempted kidnapping.
The six-count indictment alleges Golubski sexually assaulted an individual identified as S.K. in1998 and another individual identified as O.W. in 1999.
In the first case, Golubski is accused of forcibly performing oral sex on, forcibly having oral sex with, or penetrating S.K. “on multiple occasions” while in or next to Golubski’s vehicle. In the second case, he is accused of sexually assaulting O.W. while in O.W.’s house.
Golubski was arrested early this morning by FBI agents, who descended on his home in Edwardsville, Kansas.
A nearby resident said about six vehicles and an ambulance pulled up to Golubski’s house around 6:30 a.m. The resident, who asked not to be named, happened to be awake at the time. The resident was told to go back into their house, but the resident said they saw Golubski taken into custody in one of the vehicles.
“I saw them handcuff him and pat him down,” the resident said.
Golubski is scheduled to make his first court appearance in federal court in Topeka at 1:30 this afternoon.
Golubski, 69, has been the object of a federal grand jury investigation for more than a year.
KCUR confirmed the FBI investigation last January, obtaining subpoenas from a federal grand jury, which demanded that the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department hand over records covering two decades of homicide cases, internal affairs reports and informant files as part of what appeared to be a wide-ranging investigation.
The subpoenas revealed a search for information on homicide cases that covered the years Golubski worked as a KCKPD detective, through 2010, the year he retired from the department.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department confirmed last October that it had responded to FBI subpoenas “regarding allegations made against Roger Golubski.”
Similarly, Dave Alvey, the mayor of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, confirmed at the time that the Unified Government had been cooperating with federal authorities since 2019 but hadn’t commented publicly to protect the integrity of the investigation.
Golubski, now retired, worked for the KCK Police Department for 35 years, retiring as a captain in 2010. For years, he has been the subject of allegations that he terrorized Black residents of the city, sexually assaulted women and exchanged drugs for information in order to clear cases.
In June, the Unified Government agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a civil rights suit brought by Lamont McIntyre, who was wrongfully imprisoned for more than 24 years for a double slaying he didn’t commit.
The lawsuit named Golubski, various KCK police officers and the Unified Government. Golubski allegedly framed the then-17-year-old McIntyre for the double homicide in 1994.
When deposed by McIntyre’s lawyers, Golubski invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination hundreds of times.
The FBI has offered a reward for information on one of the women linked to Golubski, Rhonda Tribue, a Black woman who was killed in 1998 and whose case remains unsolved. Last July, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation handed over to federal authorities information from its own probe into sexual assault allegations against Golubski.
Niko Quinn, whom Golubski allegedly forced to lie to secure McIntyre’s conviction, said the former detective had haunted her life dating back to the double murders in 1994. His arrest, she said, means she can finally put that ghost to bed.
“I can rest,” Quinn said. “I can rest knowing he’s behind bars. I can sleep. I am tired of running.”
Kansas City, Kansas, activists who have clamored for Golubski’s arrest and prosecution reacted with jubilation to the news of his arrest.
Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2 ) called the arrest “well deserved and a long time in the making.”
“Now it is time for systemic accountability and reckoning. Now, it is time to overhaul the systems that have allowed for this to occur,” the group said in a statement.
“You know I’ve been having a feeling for the past week like something is coming … it took over three decades, thirty years of this man living like he is a law-abiding citizen and he is one of the biggest criminals we have in Wyandotte County,” said Violet Martin, an executive board member of MORE2 who says her brother and cousin were wrongfully incarcerated because of Golubski.
Rev. Rick Behrens, of Grandview Park Presbyterian Church and Board Member of MORE2 said, “This is a huge step toward justice for victims of Golubski. Those who enabled and sheltered him including the criminal court system, KCKPD and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County should also be held accountable. The arrest of Golubski is huge, but our community is still faced with the need for truth and reconciliation in light of all the pain, injustice and evil we have allowed under our watch in this Beloved Community of God’s Children.”
