So is he on paid leave, or not on paid leave?

This looks like a shaky case, you should have held off before posting:

The Globe has reported more details:

boston.com.../deputy_fire_chi.html

Money quote:

In early July, after having been detained as a "common night walker," a woman reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by a highway patrol officer two weeks earlier, Middleton said.

Years ago, I was appointed as a public defender for a man arrested and hauled into court on a charge of rape.

He worked at John Hancock and was walking out of the Au Bon Pain at Boylston and Berkeley when a woman accompanied by a police officer pointed at him and "That's him, that's the man who raped me." The man was arrested on the street, booked and brought to court that afternoon, where I met him.

The police report for the rape was from about 6 months before that. The woman reported that a man had broken into her apartment and raped her a day before. There were significant differences between the description of the rapist in the police report and the man who was arrested that day. There was no DNA.

The man had no record. He was released on recognizance because of the different descriptions. If the descriptions were closer, he might have been held without bail. The case was eventually dismissed.

Fortunately, he was not a firefighter and it was before the internet, so his arrest was not reported and his name not associated with rape.

No, I used to be able to post anonymously, so I had to register.

I just don't like people being smeared with shaky allegations.

Hmmm, I didn't mention the Duke case, remember that?

I also don't like the snarky glee that goes with allegations against firefighters, who are 99% good.

Do you have anything substantive to say on the subject?

The new guy (hey, I use to post here before login) is right. Her story is, ahhh, interesting. Maybe she's just trying to convince the boyfr---um, fiance, that she isn't a hooker. Poor judgmen on Pearson's part, but last I looked, we simply don't have 'highway patrol'. Show me a gun or uniform. Anything beside her word.

I'm calling shenanigans. He's a john, probably, but that's it, in my opinion.
Oh, I'm outta state, on dialup. Gawd...