Former Winthrop Lieutenant Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse Charges with Minor

By Transcript Staff

A former Winthrop police lieutenant pleaded guilty to child sex abuse charges on Monday. James Feeley, 57, was arrested last year while still a member of the Winthrop Police Department and charged with rape of a child and multiple counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Feeley was scheduled to go to trial early next, but changed his plea to guilty in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday. 

Feeley was sentenced to four to six years in prison, with credit for time served, followed by five years of probation by Judge James Budreau. Following his release, Feeley will need to register as a sex offender and seek treatment, and stay away from and have no contact with the victim. The indictment against Feeley alleged that on various dates between August 2022 and December 2023, he sexually assaulted a child, who was between ten and eleven years-old at the time of the assaults.

These assaults occurred at the defendant’s home where he resided with his wife and family in Winthrop. According to the district attorney’s office, the child first disclosed the abuse to an adult on Christmas day last year. The defendant’s wife learned of the abuse and confronted the defendant, at which time he did not deny the abuse, according to the indictment After that, Feeley went to a cemetery; he was armed with a handgun and made statements which indicated that he was suicidal.

The defendant’s brother called Winthrop Police Chief Terence Delehanty and a Winthrop Police sergeant to meet Feeley at the cemetery. At that time, Feeley confessed to the chief and sergeant that he had sexually assaulted the alleged victim, according to the indictment. The defendant was arrested by the Massachusetts State Police on Dec. 26, 2023. After receiving his Miranda warnings, the defendant admitted in a recorded interview that he sexually assaulted the child on five or six occasions, according to the district attorney’s office.