Rape suspect wanted to be a cop

Now charged in several Methadone Mile assaults

A Swampscott man accused of five rapes in Boston wanted to be a cop in his hometown and won a $40,000 judgment after the former chief rejected his application.

Joseph Losano, 52, was ordered held on $175,000 bail at his arraignment Wednesday on multiple counts of aggravated rape and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and single counts of rape and aggravated kidnapping. He pleaded not guilty.

The suspected serial rapist prowled Boston’s so-called “Methadone Mile,” raping five women working as prostitutes between the spring of 2017 and 2018 — attacking them all at gunpoint, authorities said.

He used his gun to further terrorize one of his victims after picking her up, indictments state. Authorities added he also locked the doors and windows to his pickup truck once luring the alleged victims inside.

Losano sued his hometown for malicious prosecution related to his bid to become a cop. He won a $40,000 judgment in that case, according to federal court records.

The New Hampshire State Police also rejected the former Marine, who also served in other branches of the military, according to published reports.

He also served as a substitute teacher in Swampscott for a short time in 2017, also according to published reports.

In the most recent case, prosecutors say Losano picked up the alleged victims along the Methadone Mile “under the guise of seeking sex for a fee.” He then pulled a gun “and forced them to engage in additional sexual conduct against their will,” the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office said.

Some of the alleged victims were driven out of the city to Waltham and Quincy, the DA’s office said.

The Methadone Mile — along Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard — is a gathering place for opioid addicts. Calls for overdoses along that stretch of road near Boston Medical Center accounted for 9 percent of all EMS runs in the city last year for “Narcotic Related Illness” — part of a spike in OD calls in the city the Herald first reported on earlier this week.