Police are releasing new details about a man accused of attempting to rape one woman and assault two others inside a Massachusetts high school on Monday.
Timothy Grover, 55, of Dracut, was arrested Monday after a 20-year-old woman reported that she had been assaulted inside Lowell High School. The alleged assault happened a day before students were set to return to school from their summer vacation.
Lowell police said Tuesday morning that around 4 p.m. Monday, a woman flagged down a police officer on Arcand Drive and told the officer that a man had just tried to attack and rape her inside the high school. Police later learned that the same man had allegedly assaulted two other victims inside the school.
One of the women who was assaulted was a teacher.
Grover followed a woman into the school, mumbling to her that she should call police because someone was going to rape her, prosecutors alleged in court Tuesday. When the woman asked Grover who would rape her, Grover allegedly said, "I am."
The woman was able to escape, according to police. That's when Grover allegedly headed to the auditorium and cornered a student.
"He starts touching my neck. That's when I turned around and I yelled at him," the student, an 18-year-old who identified himself as Bukuru. "I started swearing at him, 'You don't know me, why are you touching me like that?'"
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Bukuru said Grover continued to harass him, also shoving a teacher. Grover allegedly grabbed the teen's sweater.
"He was in my face, I'm like, 'Yo, can you please let me go?' He said, 'No,'" Bukuru recalled. "He's just in my face, he wasn't letting go, that's when I hit him."
A description of the suspect was broadcast to all officers in the area, and within minutes, park rangers found a man fitting the description at Kirk and Paige streets.
When police arrived, they found park rangers struggling with the suspect. Officers said he was combative and drunk. The man, later identified as Grover, was allegedly yelling profanities and threatening the officers. Police said Grover then kicked and attempted to bite an officer.
Grover was identified by one of the victims and placed under arrest for assault with intent to rape, assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. After further investigation, he was also charged with two counts of assault and battery for allegedly assaulting two other victims inside the high school.
Police described the incident as a "random attack," and said Grover had no connection with any of the victims.
Grover is well known in Lowell. He owns a security firm and helped found two residential programs designed to help women struggling with substance abuse, most notably The Megan House Foundation.
The Megan House Foundation issued a statement Tuesday saying that Grover "separated completely from The Megan House more than 18 months ago and has not been involved with any aspect of its operations since that time."
A former employee of Grover's was stunned by the allegations.
"I feel really sad for Tim, but at the same time, what he did is reprehensible," said Mitchel Mejias. "You can't do stuff like that."
Lowell Public Schools issued a statement about the "unfortunate incident that took place at Lowell High School."
"Following the incident, school leadership notified staff of the occurrence and took the opportunity to re-emphasize safety protocols for maintaining a secure environment," the district said in its statement.
Grover entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment Tuesday in Lowell District Court and was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Friday.
His lawyer, Daniel Thompson, said Grover denies the charges "in their entirety."
