A Plymouth police officer and her husband were arrested on Wednesday and charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault involving their adopted son, prosecutors said.
Samantha Pelrine, who has been placed on leave from the Plymouth Police Department, and her husband, Daniel Forand, pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Thursday in Plymouth District Court. A judge set bail at $10,000 for Pelrine and $25,000 for Forand.
The alleged victim, whose identity has not been disclosed by the court, first came forward in a March 17 restraining order filing accusing both defendants of repeatedly raping him while they were fostering him as a teenager. Pelrine was placed on leave from the same day, and state police opened an investigation.
Pelrine has been charged with four counts of raping a child. Forand has been charged with 20 counts of rape, indecent assault and battery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
If convicted, both face mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years in prison, the prosecutor said.
The state police arrested Pelrine and Forand at their home in Plymouth without incident.
A judge granted Pelrine a bail of $10,000, and if she is released on bail, she must have no contact with the alleged victim, surrender her passport and any firearms to the court, and remain in Massachusetts. The judge also granted Forand a bail of $25,000 under the same conditions.
In the couple’s arraignment in Plymouth District Court Thursday, the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney James Duffy, shared new details on the allegations against Pelrine and Forand. The alleged victim stated that Forand first raped him in 2018, when he was 14, and that Pelrine first raped him when he was 15.
According to Assistant District Attorney James Duffy, the abuse began in 2018, when the alleged victim was 14, and continued through 2025. Prosecutors allege that Forand first assaulted the victim, and that Pelrine began abusing him the following year. The abuse allegedly included repeated sexual assaults, coercion, and physical violence over several years.
Based on the severity of the charges, Duffy argued that Pelrine and Forand pose high flight risks and requested that bail be set at $250,000 for both defendants. Neither defendant has any prior criminal record.
“The Commonwealth's request for bail along with conditions is based on the allegations before the court to ensure that they continue to answer on these charges and to also protect the safety of the alleged victim in this case,” Duffy said.
The couple’s two defense attorneys asked that they be released on their own recognizance under the condition that they have no contact with the alleged victim except through counsel. They argued that both defendants posed low flight risks because of their strong ties to Plymouth.
“[Pelrine] was raised and spent her entire life here in Plymouth,” one defense attorney said. “She doesn't have so much as a speeding ticket.”
He said that since the couple was notified of the allegations against them, they have remained in Plymouth and have not liquidated any assets to prepare to flee.
The defense claimed that the alleged victim fabricated the charges, with one of them calling him “disingenuous” and “manipulative.”
The defense cited videos of the alleged victim visiting the defendants’ house and having “cordial” conversations with the couple a few weeks prior to the March 17 restraining order filing, arguing this undermines his claim that he feared for his safety.
Defense attorneys said that the alleged victim lived with the couple until recently. They claimed that the alleged victim broke into the couple’s house February 18 and asked Forand if he could resume his previous job at Forand’s company in late February.
One defense attorney described an incident in which Forand allegedly told the alleged victim that he had to move out and threatened to call the police to remove him and his girlfriend from the house, who had spent the night there against the couple’s wishes. The defense attorney alleges that the alleged victim “brutally attacked” Forand in response.
She characterized the incident as the impetus for the alleged victim making false allegations against the couple.
“This troubled young man had not been following the house rules. And then it finally was enough. You need to find somewhere else to live,” she said. “And then he fabricates these allegations.”
The other defense attorney claimed that the alleged victim texted Pelrine multiple times between March 9 and 12.
Duffy responded to the defense attorneys’ claims by saying that Pelrine and Forland had groomed the alleged victim and that his continued contact with the defendants was not evidence against the allegations.
“The public image is often different from what is happening behind closed doors,” he said.
One defense attorney argued that the prosecution was treating Pelrine “disproportionately unfavorably” because of her employment as a police officer.
“I have clients all over the state charged with rape, and not one of them is held on anything close to this amount of bail,” he said. “And there is something to be said that she is a police officer because you know her ties to the community are strong and she has been vetted. Her background has been vetted. Her personal history has been vetted.”
The Plymouth Police Department said in a press release that it had opened an internal investigation “to determine the facts and circumstances of Officer Pelrine’s alleged conduct.”
In another release following Pelrine’s arrest, the department said it was “committed to a timely and thorough internal investigation” to “take appropriate administrative action,” and that Pelrine’s duty status was under review.
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