Kansas City, Kansas, police have cooperated in years-long Roger Golubski investigation

Luke Nozicka
·2 min read
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The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department said Thursday it has been responding to subpoenas from the FBI since 2019 in relation to allegations levied against former detective Roger Golubski.

“Despite many inquiries from both the public and media over the past three years, we did not disclose our cooperation with the investigation out of concern that it could interfere with the work of federal authorities,” spokeswoman Nancy Chartrand said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

The department issued the statement after news broke that a federal grand jury investigation is underway into Golubski, who has been accused of using his badge to terrorize and rape vulnerable Black women for years.

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.

Golubski, 69, faces allegations 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.

Morgan Roach, an attorney representing Golubski, also declined to comment, citing “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.

Social justice organizers and activists welcomed the news Thursday.

“This was really just like, finally,” said Ricee Cade, a community organizer in Wyandotte County with MORE2, a social justice organization. “Hopefully this just snowballs into a bigger investigation because this is just the tip of the iceberg.”