PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire District Attorney's Office's Violent Crime Task Force, a section launched in September, made its first arrest of Pittsfield man for multiple counts of sexual assault on Tuesday.

 

The Berkshire County Law Enforcement Task Force on Tuesday executed an arrest warrant on 20-year-old Lucius Copeland as part of an investigation into the sexual assault allegations.

 

"I think that we have a crisis here a Berkshire County of violence against women and girls," District Attorney Andrea Harrington said in a media session following a press release. "I think it's important for our community to understand the kinds of challenges that women and girls face in terms of violence here in Berkshire County, and we're all responsible for addressing this violence, we're all responsible for changing the culture of violence against women and girls."

 

Copeland was arrested for two counts of aggravated rape and a single count of rape of a child after the task force established probable cause.  Law enforcement suspects him of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old girl over the summer, both from Berkshire County.

 

Central Berkshire District Court arraigned Copeland virtually on Tuesday and Judge Paul Smyth scheduled a dangerousness hearing for Tuesday, Jan. 4.

 

Harrington said she commended the young women who had the courage to share personal and traumatic events with the local police that aided in the investigation.

 

The investigation remains open, as it is believed that there may be other victims who have not reported additional sexual assaults. Harrington said any other victims can contact the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit at 413-499-1112.

 

"I want to highlight the fact that violence against women and girls in Berkshire County, in my opinion, is the most devastating public safety challenge that we face as a community," Harrington said. "The type of violence that occurred here in this case really should be unthinkable and it happens more than any of us really would care to admit, and my office local law enforcement will use every tool at our disposal to end the culture of violence against women and girls and other vulnerable survivors. Holding perpetrators accountable by using our advanced investigation capabilities is a critical tool in building a culture of safety and justice here in our community."

 

The Pittsfield Police Department began an investigation in September. The case was referred to the task force in November for an in-depth investigation after law enforcement agencies from other communities in Berkshire County opened similar cases. 

 

Harrington confirmed that the victims were known by the perpetrator, who was corresponding with them through social media. She said the perpetrator seemed to know them socially.  She added that this is indicative of a lot of cases that are seen with teenage girls.

 

Two of the sexual assaults were alleged to have occurred in Pittsfield and one in Lanesborough.

 

The DA expanded the Berkshire Law Enforcement Task Force to include a violent crime section in the fall.   This section zeroes in on sexual assaults, high-risk domestic violence, and human trafficking cases by uniting county police departments to collaborate on investigating these crimes.

 

The section consists of eight officers from five different police departments: Hinsdale, Great Barrington, Lee, North Adams, and Pittsfield. Police chiefs from Berkshire communities have been given the option to assign officers to it.

 

Harrington said the critical piece of the task force's strategy is that they have two officers who acted as the main investigators.

 

"They are developing the expertise that is needed to conduct these kinds of investigations," she said. "So that this kind of knowledge about how to do these kinds of investigations will now kind of be shared with their local police departments and will spread expertise around how to handle complicated sexual assault investigations."