Norfolk Superior Court Probation Officer Uses Detective Work to
Help Police Identify Randolph Assailant

Marcia Davis, Norfolk Superior Court Probation Officer.

Norfolk Superior Court Probation Officer Marcia Davis helped Randolph Police identify an assailant who followed a woman down a path, attacked her, and attempted to steal her pocketbook and iPod when she got off of an MBTA bus on South Main Street last week.

During a weekly meeting with Randolph Police, Davis learned of the robbery from Detective Richard Lucey who showed her an MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) surveillance photo of the suspect. The 13-year Probation Officer did not recognize the young man in the photo but decided to do a little sleuthing to assist local police.

"The detective gave me the photo and asked me if I knew this young man. I didn’t but thought I would ask my contacts at the Department of Youth Services (DYS) because he (the assailant) looked young and may have been in DYS custody at some point," Davis said.

She got her big break in the case during an office visit with one of her probationers. Davis showed the probationer the photo and warned, “If I catch you with this young man we’re going to have problems.”

The probationer assured Davis that he would not socialize with the young man whom he named. The suspect was identified as Dennis Holland.

Davis looked up the name the probationer provided and verified Holland’s name using Registry of Motor Vehicle records. She found two separate addresses: one in Randolph and the other in Boston. Davis was also able to determine that the suspect had been on probation at Boston Municipal Court-Roxbury.

She informed Detective Lucey of her find. He told her ‘You’ve got it on the nose.’

Lucey further commented, “She was the first one to identify the suspect and she turned out to be 100 percent correct. She helped take a dangerous person off the street.”

The detective also checked RMV records. “When I looked at the MBTA photo and registry photo, it was clear that it highly resembled the suspect.”

Holland’s picture was also aired on Fox-TV’s Ten Most Wanted. After the airing, Lucey received a call from a Boston Police Department Gang Unit Officer followed by a call from the suspect. Holland called police and admitted the photo was a picture of him. He agreed to come into the police station the next day to speak with police. Holland was later arrested and charged with the offense.

"Marcia does an outstanding job with aggressively seeking opportunities to improve public safety through collaboration with fellow criminal justice agencies. She puts a tremendous amount of effort into her work and it's great to see a result such as this," said Acting Chief Probation Officer Milton Britton Jr.

Davis was the second Norfolk Superior Court Probation Officer to identify an offender. This summer, Probation Officer Matthew O’Toole identified a suspected bank robber after recognizing his photo in the local newspaper, The Quincy Patriot Ledger.