A lawyer accused of sexually assaulting multiple women in Boston 15 years ago has been hit with new charges for four additional attacks - bringing the total number of accusers to eight.
Earlier this month, New Jersey lawyer Matthew Nilo, 35, was arrested in connection with three rapes and one attempted rape between 2007 and 2008 in Boston’s Charlestown area.
The latest charges pertain to the rape or sexual assault of four women in North End – where Mr Nilo reportedly lived – around the same time.
A grand jury indicted him on seven additional charges on Tuesday, including one count of aggravated rape, three counts of assault with intent to rape, and two counts of indecent assault and rape, according to The Boston Globe.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said the alleged assaults – including two attacks on the same woman 11 days apart – occurred in January 2007, July 2007, January 2008, and July 2008.
“The incidents followed a similar pattern. The victims were attacked while they were walking alone, in the dark, either at night or early in the morning,” as per the statement from Hayden’s office about Mr Nilo’s indictment.
In an email statement to The Independent, Mr Nilo’s attorney Joseph Cataldo said his client “denies all the allegations including the latest charges”.
“You can expect both a legal and factual challenge to the government’s case.”
Mr Nilo was arrested by the Boston Police Department from his home in Weehawken, New Jersey on 31 May after he was connected to the earlier cases by DNA submitted to a genealogy website.
He is the sixth person to be arrested by the BPD in connection with years-old rape cases, as part of $2.5m federal grand to re-open “unsolved cases that present the greatest threat to public safety,” according to the department’s Deputy Superintendent Victor Evans.
DNA evidence collected from sexual assault kits that previously didn’t yield any results is now being run against samples submitted to commercial genetic testing companies such as GEDMatch or FamilyTree DNA – used by consumers to locate family members or trace their ancestry.
According to news reports, customers must consent to their information being shared with law enforcement agencies.
Matthew Nilo is facing charges for multiple rapes in the Boston area in 2007 and 2008— (LinkedIn via Boston Globe)
Mr Hayden on Tuesday said “DNA evidence played a role in these new indictments” against Mr Nilo.
On 5 June, Mr Nilo was arraigned on rape and kidnapping charges at the Suffolk Superior Court. These included three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery.
He pleaded not guilty to these charges.
During the hearing, prosecutors described how Mr Nilo allegedly lured one of his victims into his car during the early hours of 18 August 2007. The victim, then 23, reportedly accepted Mr Nilo’s offer to help her locate her own vehicle after a night out.
Instead, he allegedly drove her to Terminal Street in Charlestown, claimed he had a weapon, told her “to shut up or he would kill her” and raped her. The other three attacks also allegedly occurred at Terminal Street.
Mr Nilo was released from Suffolk County Jail on 15 June, after posting $500,000 cash bail. His bail conditions include that he surrender his passport, have no contact with the victims, and stay 1,000 feet from Terminal Street.
Mr Nilo was accompanied by his fiancée as he left the courthouse, after being fitted with a GPS bracelet.
Reacting to Mr Nilo being granted bail, the victim in the alleged August 2007 rape, now 39, told The Boston Globe: “I’m just upset right now that he’s out on bail ... and has lived this lavish lifestyle and all these people that think they know him have no idea how evil he is, and how evil these crimes were.
“I just hope that I can help encourage somebody else to come forward.”
Mr Nilo will be formally charged on the new counts on 13 July.
