‘He should pay’: Activists toast to ex-KCK cop Roger Golubski’s indictment

The backyard patio of Briet’s Stein and Deli in Kansas City, Kansas, played host late Thursday afternoon to a group of activists and alleged victims who have long sought the arrest of former police detective Roger Golubski, who has long been the subject of corruption allegations.

Roughly a dozen gathered there in celebration, offering toasts and praises to the news of Golubski’s early-morning arrest after a federal grand jury returned a six-count felony indictment charging him with civil rights crimes for sexual abuse and kidnapping he allegedly committed under the protection of the badge.

“It’s a wonderful feeling,” said Eric Calvin, whose family believes Golubski is somehow connected to the unsolved murder of his older sister Rose Calvin, and blames the detective for the murder conviction of his brother John Calvin, who maintains he is innocent.

“It’s something that we have been looking forward to for a long time: justice for not only my family, but other families that have endured pain.”

The Calvins are among the area families that have sought a thorough investigation of Golubski for alleged sex crimes, including rape, along with the mysterious unsolved killings of several local Black women. They have continued to search for answers in the death of Rose Calvin, who had fallen into drug abuse and prostitution and was found strangled in an empty lot in July 1996. Golubski was known to pick her up and drop her off at the family home, the Calvins have said, and the family believes the story he’s given does not add up.

Also attending the bar gathering on Thursday was Ophelia Williams, of Kansas City, one of the two women whose testimony to federal investigators led to the criminal charges filed against Golubski.

Williams has long described a nightmare she survived at the hands of the homicide detective, alleging he raped her while visiting her house one day in 1999 as he was investigating a double homicide that her 14-year-old sons were in police custody for.

On Thursday, Williams said she was thankful to hear the news that Golbuski had been arrested. But she added that this is only one step along the path she and others want to see taken by authorities moving forward, and she wants to see her two sons freed after they have languished in prison for decades.

“He should pay his debt that he owes,” Williams said, adding: “My boys need to come home.”

Golubski, who retired from KCKPD as a captain in 2010, was arrested by FBI agents at his home in Edwardsville early Thursday morning. He was escorted in law enforcement custody to the federal courthouse in Topeka, where he pleaded not guilty to the six felony charges contained in the indictment, which accuse him of committing the crimes between 1998 and 2002.

The Star’s Luke Nozicka, Aaron Torres and Glenn E. Rice contributed to this report.