Matthew Nilo, New Jersey lawyer accused of Charlestown rapes, pleads not responsible

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Nilo was arraigned Monday. Prosecutors shared new details about the alleged assaults and the steps investigators took earlier than arresting Nilo.

Matthew Nilo, a 35-year-old New Jersey lawyer accused of sexually assaulting 4 girls in Boston over a decade in the past, was arraigned Monday and pleaded not responsible to the costs. 

Nilo was charged with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one rely of assault with intent to rape and one rely of indecent assault and battery, in keeping with Suffolk District Lawyer Kevin Hayden’s workplace. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail as prosecutors revealed new particulars concerning the assaults and the occasions that led to Nilo’s arrest final week. 

If Nilo posts bail, he will probably be ordered to put on a GPS tracker, give up his passport, haven’t any contact with the victims, and to remain 1,000 toes away from Terminal Avenue in Charlestown, the place all 4 alleged assaults occurred, except accompanied by his legal professional.

Nilo’s arrest is the product of a brand new initiative designed to leverage advances in genetic family tree to establish leads in chilly instances, police have stated. 

Assistant District Lawyer Lynn Feigenbaum summarized the assaults throughout Monday’s arraignment. The primary assault occurred within the early morning hours of Aug. 18, 2007. A 23-year-old girl who had been out with a pal in downtown Boston left a bar and headed in direction of the realm of State Avenue to search for her automotive. She was approached by a person in his twenties with mild olive pores and skin and brown hair whom she thought she knew. 

The person supplied her a experience to assist search for her automotive, however as an alternative he took her to Terminal Avenue. They each exited the automobile and the person “informed her to close up or he would kill her,” prosecutors stated. He additionally informed the lady that he had a weapon. The person allegedly raped her on a grassy space close to railroad tracks.

The second assault occurred on Nov. 22, 2007, prosecutors stated. The sufferer was one other 23-year-old girl. She left a bar on State Avenue after attending a highschool reunion, and entered a automobile that she believed to be a taxi or a livery automotive. She gave the driving force, a person, the tackle of an ATM close to her residence. When the automotive handed the intersection of North Washington and Industrial Streets, the lady informed the driving force that he missed the tackle. The driving force then flashed a small knife at her. He drove her to Terminal Avenue, ordered the lady out of the automotive, knocked her down, and raped her, prosecutors stated. 

The third assault got here on Aug. 5, 2008. A 36-year-old girl was panhandling close to Boston Widespread, within the space of Boylston and Arlington Streets. She was approached by a person in his early twenties who promised to offer her cash if she drove with him to Charlestown. As soon as she accepted, the person drove her to Terminal Avenue, prosecutors stated. 

They exited the automotive, and the person tackled the lady to the bottom. Prosecutors stated he held a gun to her again and raped her repeatedly. DNA swabs from the primary three assaults all matched the identical unknown man on the time. 

The fourth assault occurred within the early morning hours of Dec. 23, 2008. The sufferer, a 44-year-old girl, was jogging within the space of Terminal Avenue in Charlestown. A person ran up behind her, wrapped his arms round her higher physique in a “bearhug,” and tackled her to the bottom with an arm round her neck, prosecutors stated. 

The person sexually assaulted her on the bottom, prosecutors stated. When the lady screamed, the person informed her that he had a gun a number of instances. She ultimately fought him off, utilizing gloved arms to poke on the man’s eyes. 

Boston Police revisited the investigation in 2022 utilizing a way often known as investigative genetic family tree. Utilizing this tactic, investigators scour publicly accessible DNA databases to slim their pool of suspects. These databases are populated solely by information that customers have chosen to make out there, prosecutors stated. 

Nilo emerged as an individual of curiosity, and police began surveillance efforts in “early 2023.” FBI brokers obtained utensils and consuming glasses that they noticed Nilo use at a company occasion. The Boston Police Crime Lab constructed a DNA profile from one of many glasses, which was discovered to match the suspect profile from the three Terminal Avenue rapes, prosecutors stated.

Investigators additionally had the glove that the December 2008 sufferer used to poke at her attacker’s eyes. It was despatched for forensic testing at a personal lab and investigators obtained a male DNA profile. 

“Additional testing decided that this profile was 314 instances extra prone to belong to Matthew Nilo than to another male within the inhabitants,” Feigenbaum stated. 

Nilo’s legal professional, Joseph Cataldo, informed The Boston Globe Monday that he had not acquired discover {that a} search warrant was obtained earlier than investigators collected Nilo’s DNA samples.

“My educated guess is there are not any search warrants… Acquiring DNA and analyzing it and not using a warrant based mostly on possible trigger, I posit that’s unconstitutional,” he informed the Globe.