Theater District club scrutinized for alleged dance-floor sexual assault by high-school student

The security director at Royale, 279 Tremont St., acknowledged today that even after he learned a woman said she had been groped by somebody on the dance floor, he never called police.

The Boston Licensing Board decides Thursday whether to punish the club for that - and for the alleged Aug. 10 attack by an 18-year-old Boston high-school student. The student, meanwhile, faces potential criminal charges for the incident.

At a board hearing this morning, BPD detectives testified the victim told them that after the suspect grabbed her crotch early that morning, she asked Mac Dauber, the club's security director, at least twice to call police but that he refused, saying police would not do anything because they did not witness the attack but that he had good relations with police and that he would handle things. Detectives said that after waiting several days for Dauber to do something, she contacted District D-4 to report the attack.

Dauber, however, said that the woman told him that night only that she'd had an argument with the kid. He said she never said anything about a sexual attack and denied he'd been asked to call police.

He said he did get an e-mail note from the woman later that day - which he did not see for two days because he was off - and acknowledged that e-mail did mention sexual assault. But he said the woman seemed grateful for the way club staffers handled matters and that he didn't feel like he needed to contact police because he thought that, based on the e-mail, the whole thing seemed settled.

"I thought it was handled to the best of our ability," he said. In response to a question from his attorney, he said he thought he had very good relations with BPD, in particular with detectives, whom he said he had helped with several investigations.

"I would tend to disagree," Sgt. Det. Michael Talbot replied, saying he had found Dauber "less than truthful" and not particularly helpful in past investigations. A detective from the BPD sexual-assault unit said that Dauber had been cooperative in an interview with him.