BOSTON, Jan. 21, 2015—A 16-year-old robbery suspect identified in part through MBTA public safety cameras is being held on more than $2 million cash bail after his arraignment as a juvenile on two additional criminal complaints, including one that alleges sexual assault, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
The juvenile, whose most recent address is in Lancaster but who has ties to Dorchester, was arraigned on two separate complaints yesterday in the Juvenile Session of Dorchester Municipal Court. On a complaint charging delinquency, to wit: armed robbery for a Jan. 11 incident, he was held on $25,000 cash bail. On a second complaint charging delinquency, to wit: kidnapping, assault with intent to rape, assault with intent to murder, and indecent assault and battery for a Jan. 13 incident, he was held on $1 million cash bail.
Those arraignments followed Jan. 14 proceedings in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court, where he was charged in two additional Jan. 13 incidents and held on $500,000 cash bail on each of two separate complaints charging delinquency, to wit: kidnapping, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery, and attempted kidnapping.
Based on the investigation thus far by MBTA Transit Police, Boston Police, and Suffolk prosecutors, authorities believe the juvenile is responsible for four separate assaults:
Shortly after the first attack was reported, MBTA Transit Police began reviewing footage from public safety cameras in the area of Fields Corner. They soon observed an individual whose clothing was generally consistent with the victim’s description. As the three subsequent attacks unfolded early on Jan. 13, they communicated with Boston Police and shared the evidence they had developed thus far. Based on clothing descriptions, pattern evidence, and footage from MBTA public safety cameras, investigators grew confident that one perpetrator was responsible for all four offenses.
“Information sharing across departments linked four violent crimes to one suspect,” Conley said. “Cooperation like that solves crimes and helps us hold offenders accountable.”
Just a few hours after the last attack on Jan. 13, Transit Police observed footage of the juvenile, wearing clothing consistent with the unknown assailant, at Fields Corner. Transit Police immediately responded to the area and ordered all trains held at the station. The juvenile was not on scene when the first officers arrived, but they soon located him at a nearby McDonalds on Dorchester Avenue.
The officers recovered a replica handgun from the juvenile’s waistband. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, a black vest, red-and-black sneakers, and a pair of red pants underneath a pair of black pants. In his possession were a bandanna, a bank card and iPhone belonging to the sexual assault victim, and another iPhone belonging to the woman robbed on the Red Line train.
“Public safety cameras played a major role in these cases,” said Interim Transit Police Chief Kenneth Green. “But even the best camera footage is useless without professional investigators to identify and apprehend the suspect it depicts. Transit Police and Boston Police worked together to do just that, and the MBTA and the city are safer today because of it.”
Assistant District Attorney Michael V. Glennon of the DA’s Juvenile Unit arraigned the juvenile on all four cases. Erin O’Conner is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. The juvenile is represented by attorney Jeff Richards and will return to court on Feb. 10.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable