BOSTON (AP) – The Boston chapter of the Guardian Angels has expelled one of its members after revelations that he pleaded guilty five years ago to sexually assaulting a child under 14.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa told the Boston Herald that Erich L. Kennedy’s 2002 conviction was “a clear violation of our guidelines.”
“We want the public to feel fully assured that the people we’re putting out on the streets qualify to be in our program and are not in the criminal justice system,” Sliwa said.
A number for Kennedy could not be located Saturday and he could not be reached for comment. The result of his 2002 guilty plea also could not be immediately determined.
The Guardian Angels revived their Boston chapter last month, over the objections of police union officials, after a recent stretch of violence on city streets.
The Herald reported that Kennedy, also known as “Pitbull,” was patrolling in Boston’s Roxbury section on Friday when an area resident recognized him as a sex offender and called the police.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis told The Boston Globe he was concerned about a convicted sex offender patrolling the city streets in the Guardian Angels’ trademark uniform of a red beret and red satin jacket, “which purports to be a safety uniform or somebody who can be trusted.”
Rev. Bruce Wall, a community activist who has been working with the Guardian Angels since they revived their Boston chapter, said he now wants to check every Guardian Angel for criminal records because they work out of his church.
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