Massachusetts

Chief Justice: 'Mistake' led to rape suspect's flight

QUINCY, Mass. — The chief justice of the highest court in Massachusetts says a court clerk's oversight that allowed the release of a rape suspect who later fled the country was the result of a "mistake" and was not evidence of a systemic problem.

Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Ralph Gants told The Patriot Ledger on Monday that Frederick Amfo, an Uber driver charged with raping a passenger, was released on bail without being required to surrender his passport because of "confusion" in the Quincy District Court clerk's office.

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Gants spent Monday meeting with court staff as part of a previously scheduled visit.

Court officials have said the 30-year old Amfo posted $10,000 bail earlier this month and was given 24 hours to surrender his passport, but instead fled to his native Ghana.

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