BOSTON, September 26, 2017— A man was ordered held on high bail at his arraignment yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted two homeless women in Chelsea, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

OSMAR FLORES (D.O.B. 1/3/94) was arraigned yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of aggravated rape, armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and strangulation in connection with an assault that occurred in July, and charges of rape, assault and battery, and strangulation in connection with a 2015 case that was previously charged in Chelsea District Court.

Assistant District Attorney Myriam Feliz requested bail of $100,000 and requested that Flores be ordered to stay away and have no contact with the victims and submit to GPS monitoring and home confinement in the event he is to be released on bail.  Clerk Magistrate Edward Curley imposed $50,000 bail and the requested conditions of release.

Feliz told the court that the victim in the 2017 case met Flores sometime after midnight on July 18, 2017, in the area of Bellingham Square in Chelsea.  A short time after their first encounter, Flores approached the victim and offered to accompany her and carry her bag as she walked to a bus stop.  As they approached the Route 1 underpass, Flores grabbed the victim, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her until she lost consciousness, prosecutors said. 

Flores was gone when the victim regained consciousness, and she was able to locate Chelsea Police officers who were in the area and reported the assault.  Officers observed that the victim had a cut to her lip, blood and bruising on her face, and bruises and marks on her neck and collarbone. She was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she underwent a sexual assault exam.

Security cameras in the area captured footage of the victim walking with a man toward the overpass and then showed the man leaving the area alone following the assault.  Flores was identified as the man in the images by a Chelsea Police officer who was familiar with him and had seen him earlier on that date.  In a post-Miranda interview with detectives, Flores allegedly made statements identifying himself in the images, prosecutors said.

Flores was previously charged in Chelsea District Court in November 2015 in connection with an assault at the same location. Following a dangerousness hearing and probation surrender, Flores was sentenced to two years behind bars for violating the terms of his probation in an earlier auto theft case. The sexual assault charges, however, were dismissed in 2016 over prosecutors’ objections after the victim – who was also homeless – became unavailable.  Suffolk prosecutors were subsequently able to locate the victim and present her testimony to the grand jury, resulting in indictments in the earlier assault.

The victim in that case was walking alone in the area of the Route 1 underpass in Chelsea on Nov. 19, 2015, when Flores, who had been following behind her, asked her for a lighter.  As the victim reached into her pocket, Flores allegedly grabbed her and forced her onto a mattress in a nearby homeless encampment.  He repeatedly struck the victim in the face and head, sexually assaulted and strangled her, prosecutors said.

The defendant then left the area and the victim located a Chelsea Police officer to report the assault.  She was transported to Whidden Memorial Hospital, where biological evidence from her attacker was collected during an exam.  State Police criminalists developed a unique DNA profile of the attacker that was then entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.  The database matched the profile to that of Flores, prosecutors said.

Sexual assault can happen to anyone. While the victims of any crime are asked to call 911 in an emergency, survivors of sexual violence can also call their local rape crisis center for free and confidential services and to discuss their options. Support is available for all survivors of sexual violence, regardless of whether they wish to take part in a criminal prosecution. Services by city and town can be found at www.janedoe.org/find_help/search.

In Suffolk County, the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center offers a free and confidential 24-hour hotline at 800-841-8371. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provides medical accompaniment and many other free services to victims of rape and sexual assault. Suffolk victim-witness advocates can assist in referrals to BARCC and a wide array of non-profit service providers who can offer additional support and services.

Sarah MacIsaac is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Flores is represented by Richard Doyle.  He returns to court Oct. 27.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.