New indictment accuses ex-KCK detective Roger Golubski of protecting sex traffickers
Former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective Roger Golubski has been indicted on additional federal charges that accuse him of protecting three men who engaged in sex trafficking in the 1990s at an apartment complex.
Golubski, 69, was indicted along with drug kingpin Cecil Brooks, LeMark Roberson and Richard Robinson for allegedly conspiring with each other to “oppress, threaten and intimidate young women” between 1996 and 1998, according to charging documents. Their conduct, a grand jury alleges, included kidnapping and aggravated sexual abuse.
The indictment, unsealed Monday, accuses Brooks, Roberson and Robinson of using beatings, sexual assaults and threats to compel underage girls to provide sexual services at the Delavan Apartments, which Brooks ran at Delavan Avenue and 26th Street in KCK. The girls were held “in a condition of involuntary sexual servitude,” federal prosecutors said.
Golubski, then a detective who worked at KCKPD from 1975 to 2010, provided “protection from law enforcement investigation and intervention into the criminal offenses, including sex trafficking,” at the complex, according to the indictment. Prosecutors also allege the then-cop forcibly raped a teenager at the apartments.
At his initial appearance Monday, Golubski pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to his attorney, Christopher Joseph.
“Roger maintains his innocence and looks forward to clearing his name from these decades-old and uncorroborated allegations,” Joseph said in an email.
Before the latest charges, Golubski in September was indicted on six federal charges that accuse him of sexually assaulting and kidnapping a woman and a teenager from 1998 to 2002, though prosecutors say he raped additional victims. Golubski has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which could send him to prison for the rest of his life if convicted.
Golubski and the three other men also face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in the new case.
The latest indictment alleged Brooks selected girls who were runaways, came from “broken homes” or were recently released from the Beloit Juvenile Correctional Facility and moved them into the apartment complex. There, some of them were held in an area called the “working house,” where they were forced to perform sexual services on men who visited.
Multiple times, Golubski visited that part of the complex and was allowed to “choose girls to provide him sexual services,” according to the indictment. Charging documents also allege Brooks handed Golubski bundles of money through his car window.
The indictment accuses Golubski of “choosing” a teenager to provide him sexual services, even though “he acknowledged that she did not look like she was happy” to be at the apartments. He allegedly choked her.
Golubski, who is white, mainly chose “young Black girls” who ranged in age from 13 to 17, according to the new charges.
The indictment speaks to the apparent violence that the girls faced at the apartment complex.
One of the girls said she was raped by Roberson, who also threatened to kill her. He beat her, struck her with an iron and “dragged her down a staircase by her hair,” according to the indictment. He also allegedly intimidated her by saying other women were being punished, including one he claimed was “strung upside-down by her feet in a closet.”
The teenager was held at the complex for about a year before she escaped in October 1997, according to the indictment.
Another girl, who was 16, was “selected” by Brooks after she was released from the correctional facility and had “nowhere to live,” according to the indictment. She was allegedly forced to have sex with men for about four months there.
Roberson also intimidated that girl, according to the indictment. He allegedly told her that the men had “murdered a woman by burning her alive and watching her dance around like a chicken with no head.”
In a statement Monday, the Midwest Innocence Project and the law firm Morgan Pilate — both of which have investigated Golubski’s conduct as part of their clients’ cases — said they were grateful for the “continued vigorous efforts” of federal law enforcement.
“Justice demands nothing short of full truth so that the important process of repair and reconciliation can begin,” attorneys from the organizations said. “Today, our thoughts are with the victims, their families and a community that has suffered for many years.”
Golubski’s ties to Brooks
At a hearing in September, Magistrate Judge Rachel Schwartz released Golubski on home detention, citing his health issues, after his initial indictment. He is currently under location monitoring technology.
In a motion that sought to keep Golubski detained ahead of his trial in the initial case, federal prosecutors said the FBI’s investigation revealed the former cop had connections to “organized crime and criminals,” which he used “to gain benefits for himself.” Prosecutors, however, did not elaborate on that assertion at the time.
To examine those potential ties, The Star this month reviewed affidavits and testimony given as part of a lawsuit filed against Golubski by Lamonte McIntyre, who alleged Golubski framed him in a 1994 double murder he did not commit. In that case, KCK residents attested to ties between Golubski and criminals, including some who were part of a violent drug crew run by Brooks.
One witness in the McIntyre case, a woman who asked The Star not to name her, wrote in an affidavit that she was previously involved in KCK’s drug world. Before she turned her life around, she was well acquainted with big-time drug dealers — including Brooks, who was one of her suppliers — and, as a “trusted associate,” was present when they discussed their businesses.
Those men, including Brooks, paid Golubski to stay out of legal trouble, the woman said. The men “engaged in kidnappings, beatings and other violent acts.” At their meetings, Brooks and his associates talked about Golubski as their “protector,” she wrote.
“They knew they could do this because they had Golubski on their team,” the woman wrote, portraying the cop as a member of the criminal community. “The perception was that they could do anything.”
Brooks remains incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is serving time for drug trafficking.
The new indictment accuses Brooks of paying off police so “officers” could warn him when their colleagues were about to “hit” his house.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 1:02 PM.
