Marblehead doc held on rape charge

MARBLEHEAD – A Salem Hospital psychiatrist who lives in Marblehead was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Friday on charges of rape and assault and battery on his estranged wife.Assistant District Attorney Maria Markos detailed on Thursday in Lynn District Court the circumstances of the charges against Dr. Christopher Palacios, 36, of 9 Dartmouth Road, and asked the judge to find probable cause to hold him without bail until he could be tried.According to a police report Markos read in court, a woman reported to Marblehead Police Wednesday that Palacios had sexually assaulted her around 5 a.m. The woman said the argument began during a conversation about Opening Day Red Sox tickets, which she had purchased that day, according to the report.?[Palacios] was screaming and yelling at her and calling her a dummy and saying that the seats she purchased sucked,” the report said. Palacios then pushed the woman, kicked her and made several expletive-laden insults about her weight, according to the report.Several hours after the argument, the report said, Palacios entered the room the woman was sleeping in and began insulting her, which led to a physical altercation on the floor. Palacios allegedly “hit her in the side of the face and smashed her head on the floor,” and put his hand over her mouth. He then sexually assaulted her, according to the report.During his arraignment, Palacios? attorney, Katie Cox, said he admitted the two were arguing and he “lost his temper,” but that he denied any sexual assault.Palacios, who is a psychiatrist at Salem Hospital, has no prior record, Cox said. Palacios, wearing a dark sweatshirt, sat in the dock looking down for much of his arraignment and did not speak directly to the judge.?There?s no reason not to think he?s telling the truth in his statement,” Cox said. “He is a well-educated man with a respectable job.”Cox also argued that the restraining order the woman placed against Palacios never mentioned rape and that the stories the woman gave to two different Marblehead Police officers within hours of each other differed slightly.The woman told Marblehead Police the next day that Palacios has been verbally and physically abusive for several months, and she believes it to be a side effect of steroids he takes for his ears, according to the report.Palacios is being held in Middleton Jail overnight and his dangerousness hearing is scheduled today at 2 p.m.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].