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Date: 5/11/2022
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Following a recent arrest in connection to a string of sexual assaults in Bear Hole, Police Sgt. Joe LaFrance said hikers and bicyclists should feel safe to explore the large reservoir and conservation property near the Holyoke and Westfield city lines.
“Bear Hole is a safe place; it is rare that incidences like these happen,” LaFrance said. “In 2021, we had only had 11 calls for service. They are all motor vehicle issues, animal complaints, transfer, welfare [checks]. As for this year, we have had 12, with suspicious activities with motor vehicles, disturbance, and such.”
LaFrance said the more than 1,000-acre conservation area, which can be accessed from trailheads on Bear Hole Road, Morgan Road and Prospect Avenue, has a low number of calls for such a large area.
Recent activity made headline news, however. Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni reported last month that police had arrested a suspect accused of six sexual assaults in West Springfield, five of them in Bear Hole, between June 2021 and March 2022. He was apprehended with a potential seventh victim in Bear Hole.
LaFrance pointed out that the suspect picked up his victims elsewhere, on the pretext of giving them a ride in town, and brought them to remote sections of West Springfield.
“These women were brought from other locations, such as downtown Springfield. They were not walking around Bear Hole, they were brought there,” said LaFrance. “This one individual took advantage of women and now he has a lot of people concerned, and rightfully so, [but] it is a safe area. There is a lot of people that use it as walking areas and more, with very low calls for service out there.”
He said the conservation area gets good cellphone reception. There was one incident in the past year, he said, when police were able to pinpoint a person lost on the trails by triangulating the cellphone signal.
Michael Ballway of Reminder Publishing contributed to this report.