Federal grand jury investigating ex-KCK police detective Roger Golubski

Federal prosecutors in Kansas have initiated a criminal grand jury investigation into Roger Golubski, a former Kansas City, Kansas, police detective accused of using his badge to exploit and rape vulnerable Black women, CNN reported Thursday.

Golubski, 69, faces allegations in a lawsuit that he exploited women for sexual favors and coerced some of them into fabricating testimony to clear cases he investigated. He retired in 2010 from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas declined to comment to The Star, saying she could not confirm or deny such an investigation.

The news comes after years of reporting by The Star on accusations against Golubski. That has included numerous columns by Melinda Henneberger, opinion editor and columnist for The Star. Henneberger has spoken with alleged victims of Golubski and their families, and reported on decades of misconduct, abuse and manipulation.

Separately, the newspaper engaged in a partnership of reporting with KCUR detailing the former detective’s connection to several slain Black women in Kansas City, Kansas.

Morgan Roach, an attorney representing Golubski, told The Star via text message: “We won’t be commenting due to pending litigation.”

Last year, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said it shared with authorities information about “possible federal violations” that it discovered during its own investigation of Golubski. The KBI’s criminal investigation started in 2019.

Reacting to the news on Twitter, the Midwest Innocence Project said Thursday it was encouraged that federal prosecutors were looking into the “injustice” in Kansas City, Kansas.

“We have heard of investigations for years, but what the community deserves is justice,” the organization wrote.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director at the Midwest Innocence Project, said while she and others were hopeful, they want to see results.

“Whether those be indictments or pattern-and-practice investigations that we’ve be calling for from the DOJ,” she told The Star. “But there have been investigations ... or attempted investigations for years.”

Ricee Cade, community organizer in Wyandotte County with MORE2, a social justice organization, called the grand jury exciting considering the organization has been calling for an investigation into Golubski or the police department “for a long time.”

“This was really just like, finally,” Cade told The Star. “Hopefully this just snowballs into a bigger investigation because this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

It was in 2017, when Lamonte McIntyre was freed from prison after serving 23 years for two murders he did not commit, that questions began to arise publicly about Golubski.

Last year, Golubski was asked during a deposition if he understood he was being accused of “raping women and coercing women into giving false testimony, some of the grossest acts of corruption a police officer can commit.”

He declined to respond 555 times during that deposition.

“On the advice of my attorney, I invoke my Fifth Amendment Constitutional Rights,” Golubski replied, The Star and KCUR previously reported.

CNN reported that former Police Chief Terry Zeigler, who was once Golubski’s partner, was among those called to testify before the grand jury. He knew of more than a half dozen former officers who have or will also testify, he told CNN.

Zeigler could not immediately be reached by The Star.

Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree had no comment on the news.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.