Overview
- Judge Melissa DuBose, who reconsidered the case Tuesday, ordered Bryan Rafael Gómez taken back into ICE custody pending a bond hearing within seven days.
- Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Bolan admitted he withheld a Dominican Republic arrest warrant at ICE’s instruction due to a claimed lack of “use authorization” from Dominican authorities and apologized, and the judge referred him for disciplinary review.
- A DHS post dated April 30 accused the judge of knowingly freeing a “wanted murderer,” which she called false and dangerous, and it remained online during this week’s hearings despite DOJ requests to remove it.
- ICE had already named Gómez in an April 16 news release listing five foreign fugitives wanted for murder while telling DOJ not to confirm or deny the warrant in court, revealing a breakdown in agency coordination and rules for sharing foreign case files.
- Gómez, a Dominican national arrested in Worcester on April 4 and alleged in a 2023 warrant to be tied to a 2021 homicide, disputes the charge as he pursues asylum, and the court is weighing possible contempt over what it called a massive breach of trust.