Overview
- A show‑cause hearing was held on Friday, August 7 in Wrentham where Clerk‑Magistrate Pamela Gauvin‑Fernandes must decide whether there is probable cause to charge Mayor Moises Rodrigues with assault and battery.
- State Police displayed parade video, photographs and witness interviews at the hearing and said the evidence supports a finding that the touching was not consensual; investigators said the footage would be released if a charge is warranted.
- Rodrigues and his lawyer denied the recordings show improper touching and said the videos are compelling for what they do not show, while the mayor also told the court he would apologize if anyone felt uncomfortable.
- A June court proceeding produced a temporary restraining order and a judge then called Rodrigues’s contact with the student “unwelcome, offensive and certainly unprofessional” but declined to extend the order because it did not meet the legal standard for indecent assault and battery.
- If the clerk‑magistrate finds probable cause the Plymouth County DA can file charges and the case could make parade evidence public, a step that follows a separate report from another Brockton family alleging a similar school‑event contact and could shape political and legal consequences for the mayor.