Sex offender charged with failure to register in Saugus

LYNN — A judge set $10,000 cash bail for a Level 2 sex offender charged with a second offense of failing to register with police after Saugus Police said the man has been living in Lynn for the past six months but was trying to register as living in Saugus. 

“The defendant did say he was staying (at the Lynn address) two nights a week and his wife had been there for six months,” Judge Stacey Fortes said in Lynn District Court Tuesday, citing reasons for her ruling.

Fortes said the police officer told the defendant that staying in Lynn for that amount of time required him to at least list that Lynn address as a secondary address. “The defendant then countered he would beat the charge in court,” she continued.

But the defendant’s wife said Saugus Police were either misstating or ignoring evidence; trying to ensure the defendant was unsuccessful in petitioning to be removed from the state Sex Offender Registry.

“If they’re going to be thorough when they prove that he’s not doing something wrong, they have to be thorough to prove he was,” the defendant’s wife, Alicia Scott, said Tuesday. “(Saugus Police) took our words about (the defendant) ‘visiting’ and changed to be ‘living,” she said.

Saugus Police Assistant Chief Ronald Giorgetti said he could not respond to specific allegations but the department stood by its investigation.

Brian R. Scott, 34, whose address is listed as 27 Aster St. 2nd, Lynn, was arrested on a warrant and charged with failure to register as a sex offender, subsequent offense, at 2:27 p.m. Monday.

A plea of not guilty was entered on Scott’s behalf at his arraignment in Lynn District Court Tuesday.

Brian Scott was convicted of assault of a child to rape in 1992, according to court documents.

Saugus Police reported that Scott had left messages giving two addresses where he could be reached when he called to complete his annual registration as a Level 2 sex offender, according to a report by Saugus Police Lt. Thomas Coogan.

The first address was 11 Dudley St., Saugus. The second was the Aster Street address; a residence “‘(Brian Scott) described as his wife and son’s house in Lynn’” where Brian Scott spent his days, Coogan reported.

Coogan reported visiting the Saugus address, which is Brian Scott’s parents’ home, on Sunday. Coogan reported two other residents said Brian Scott only stayed at the house “once in a while,” and did not have a bed there, according to court documents.

Coogan said he went to the Aster Street address and Brian Scott told him he only stayed overnight at that address one or two times per week. Coogan told Brian Scott that at the very least, this required he register as living at the home as a “secondary address,” according to guidelines

Brian Scott said his wife had only lived there six months so he did not have to register at the address, according to police. Brian Scott also said all his mail went to the Saugus address, and only his wife’s name was on the lease, Coogan reported.

Coogan also noted the mailbox had both “Scott” and his wife’s maiden name written on it, according to the report.

Assistant District Attorney Shailagh Kennedy summarized these allegations in court Tuesday. Kennedy also said Brian Scott’s record included six months in jail for failing to register as a sex offender in 2005 as well as eight defaults on various criminal charges and four restraining orders filed against him.

She requested $25,000 cash bail.

Attorney Kevin Chapman, however, requested personal recognizance because the case was a “misunderstanding.” Chapman said Brian Scott’s father — the landlord of the Saugus home — would testify his son lived in Saugus. Alicia Scott also uses the last name Scott, the name on the mailbox in Lynn, Chapman said.

“All this came about when he himself was trying to register, he was trying to do the right thing,” Chapman said.

Fortes set $10,000 cash bail and ordered Brian Scott to return to court Aug. 20. Brian Scott’s father declined to comment outside the courtroom.

Alicia Scott said later that afternoon that she believed Saugus Police — whom she said had multiple encounters with Brian Scott when he was a teenager and young man, although none for sexual crimes — wanted to prevent her husband from petitioning to be removed from the sex offender registry.

A person can petition to be reclassified as a sex offender, potentially avoiding certain registration requirements, if they meet certain requirements, including having no new criminal charges.

Alicia Scott said her husband had expressed interest, and she said that Lt. Coogan had not contacted her or her husband when they made inquiries about registering this year.

She said he also became “very thorough” when doing the registration process.

She also said Saugus Police are familiar with her as well, although because she said she has complained because officers would not file charges on her behalf in unrelated incidents.

She was warned with a contempt charge when she started yelling in court when Kennedy mentioned her husband’s prior sex offense.

Alicia Scott said she understood the need for police to be thorough, but that Coogan did not take into account evidence that showed Brian Scott lived in Saugus. She also said Coogan was “either confused, mistaken or out and out lying,” about her husband saying he stayed overnight in Lynn two nights a week, as she was in the room at the time.

She described her husband as a kind-hearted person and father pleaded who pleaded guilty at age 13 for a crime that occurred when he was 11 and the alleged victim just about to turn 10. Until Megan’s Law in 1999, Alicia Scott said nobody would have known about the conviction because her husband’s juvenile record would have been sealed if he successfully completed probation by the time he turned 18. But she said Brian Scott violated his probation with drug offenses and larceny crimes

Alicia Scott said she has seen the case file. But it is not publicly available because it is a juvenile case and according to regulations governing the dissemination of information on sex offenders.

Giorgetti said Brian Scott knew about his requirements to register and failed to meet them.