By Jessica Fargen
The Boston Herald
GARDNER, Mass. — A correction officer at the MCI-Shirley prison has been suspended without pay while he is in jail facing charges of rape and assault and battery, according to the Worcester district attorney and the Department of Correction.
Austin W. Fuller, 23, of Athol was arraigned Friday in Winchendon District Court in Gardner on one count of rape and three counts of assault and battery for an incident that occurred in Phillipston, said Tim Connolly, spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early.
He was ordered held on $10,000 bail.
Once he posts bail, Fuller will be suspended with pay pending an indictment, said DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.
He will not be paid while he is in jail.
Fuller made $56,821 last year as a correction officer, a job he has had for three years.
The incident occurred while Fuller was off-duty, Wiffin said.
Fuller was to be held over the weekend in jail and could not be reached. Fuller’s father, Frank Fuller of Phillipston, defended his son. ‘My son is no rapist,’ he said.
He said Fuller is a graduate of Mount Wachusett Community College and had never been in trouble with the law.
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