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The 17-year-old student alleged Mayor Moises Rodrigues of Brockton inappropriately touched her at a school parade.
Brockton Mayor Moises Rodrigues pictured in November 2025.
Pat Greenhouse / The Boston Globe
A district court judge declined to extend a restraining order obtained by a Brockton teenage girl against Mayor Moises Rodrigues on Monday.
During a hearing in Hingham District Court, the judge said the conduct alleged by the 17-year-old student, though “unwelcome, offensive, and certainly unprofessional,” did not constitute a sex-related offense, such as indecent assault, that would justify extending the harassment prevention order, The Boston Globe reported.
The judge also said he discouraged Rodrigues “from having any further contact with the minor” and urged him to cooperate with the ongoing investigation, the Globe reported.
The harassment prevention order, issued June 8, required Rodrigues to remain 100 yards away from the student. The order stemmed from allegations that the mayor touched her inappropriately during Brockton Public Schools’ Huntington Day Parade on May 22.
The student testified Monday that she was serving as a section leader for Brockton High School’s marching band during the parade when Rodrigues approached her and placed his left hand around her waist. She told the court the mayor continued pulling her closer with his hand, the Globe reported.
“His face was very close to mine … He pulled me closer to him. I remember trying to pull away,” she said.
The teenager testified that she began crying after the interaction and reported the incident to a school employee. She said the encounter triggered memories of a previous experience in which she felt her personal space had been violated, the Globe reported.
Andrew Santucchio, a music teacher and band director, testified that he witnessed the interaction, describing it as “inappropriate,” the paper reported.
“I mean it wasn’t just his hands. His body was touching her body. He was kind of leaned in,” he told the court.
Santucchio said he looked toward another teacher while the interaction was occurring but “froze” and did not intervene, which he said he now regrets, according to the Globe.
The student testified that her parents met with school officials the following day and were told the school department planned to keep Rodrigues away from the June 6 graduation ceremony. About 10 days before the event, the family received a letter stating the mayor would not attend, the Globe reported.
However, Rodrigues attended the graduation ceremony as a speaker. The student’s mother interrupted the ceremony and publicly accused the mayor of inappropriate behavior toward her daughter.
“You have to f—ing get out of here,” the woman said in a video captured by Brockton Community Access. “You know what you did to my daughter!”
The mother was escorted off the field by officers after she ran toward Mayor Moises M. Rodrigues while shouting at him. – Photograph taken from video by Brockton Public Access Channel
The student’s parents were escorted from the ceremony, and the student testified that she ran beneath the stage and broke down in tears before eventually returning to receive her diploma, according to the Globe.
During cross-examination, Rodrigues’ attorney questioned why the student feared the mayor at graduation despite the 900 students and school administrators attending, the paper reported.
“The mayor on the day of the parade, even [though it was in public] approached me the way he did,’’ she replied. “So to have that fear that I did at graduation is logical because even in front of these people, he could have done something to me. The parade was public, it was open to the public.”
Rodrigues also testified Monday, acknowledging that he had placed his hands on the student’s waist during the parade and said he “felt awful” after learning she was uncomfortable, the Globe reported.
“As the father of three daughters, also being someone who always protected children, I don’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable for something I did,” he said.
Rodrigues also told the court he had limited memory of the interaction because, in part, he was greeted by many people during the event. He testified that he knew the student’s name but did not know what she looked like until she took the witness stand Monday, the paper reported.
Under questioning from the student’s attorney, Alex Grant, Rodrigues also testified that he believes limited physical contact between school employees and students can be appropriate in certain circumstances, according to the Globe.
“Appropriate touching is more than appropriate,” the mayor said. ”Every time you put a hand on somebody’s shoulder or a kid has a nice pat on the upper back, that’s appropriate … We’re not going to go around and ask 6,000 kids whether or not it’s okay just to pat them on the back.”
Grant then asked whether Rodrigues would support allowing all Brockton school employees to touch students on the waist. The Globe reported that Rodrigues did not answer directly but instead said that when adults pose for photographs with children, both of the adult’s hands should remain visible.
The hearing concluded with closing arguments from attorneys representing both parties.
“What he did did untold damage to the Brockton Public School system, and to the students in it,” Grant said in his closing, according to the Globe.
Rodrigues’ attorney, Mark Lawton, argued that Massachusetts law requires evidence that a defendant acted out of “cruelty, hostility, or revenge” and that the testimony presented did not meet that standard, the Globe reported.
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