BOSTON, April 25, 2017— A Level 3 sex offender previously charged with breaking into a South End apartment and assaulting two women inside was arraigned today on new indictments charging him with an earlier series of break-ins, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

RONALD BROWN (D.O.B. 3/20/64), who lists the Pine Street Inn as his primary residence, was arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court on five counts each of larceny over $250 and receiving stolen property over $250, three counts each of secretly photographing a person in the nude and breaking and entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony, two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, and a single count of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor.  He was ordered held on $200,000 bail.

Brown continues to be held without bail on charges of indecent assault and battery, evidence tampering, assault for the purposes of racial intimidation, burglary with assault, and two counts each of aggravated rape, robbery, kidnapping, and witness intimidation following his arrest last year.  In that case, prosecutors say, Brown broke into a Clarendon Street apartment in the early morning hours of Oct. 11 and bound two women inside.  He allegedly assaulted both women, threatened them, and demanded passwords for electronic devices that he took with him when he fled.  He was identified through a prescription bottle bearing his name that was left behind at the scene.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, chief of the DA’s Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Unit, told the court at Brown’s arraignment today that at the time of his arrest on Oct. 12, Brown was carrying a backpack containing items allegedly stolen during a series of break-ins that occurred during the preceding weeks.  The break-ins took place at a Warren Avenue apartment between the evening of Sept. 22 and the morning of Sept. 23, a Milford Street apartment between the night of Oct. 2 and morning of Oct. 3, during the day of Oct. 3 at a Dwight Street apartment, and at two other apartments in the same Dwight Street building on the afternoon of Oct. 6.  In addition, a bicycle was stolen from the yard of a different Dwight Street address on the night of Sept. 30 into Oct. 1.

Each of the targeted locations falls within a less than half mile radius and in close proximity to the site of the Clarenden Street assaults.  Prosecutors said that each of the targeted apartments housed solely female residents.  Polumbaum said in court that the Commonwealth will seek to join both cases for trial, based on the belief that Brown had a pattern of targeting women as potential rape victims, which culminated in the October 11 attack. 

Boston Police detectives obtained a warrant to search Brown’s cell phone during the course of their investigation.  The search recovered videos taken on Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 depicting the victim of one of the break-ins as she was dressing inside her apartment.  The videos were filmed through bedroom windows from outside the apartment.

The bicycle stolen from Dwight Street was recovered outside the Pine Street Inn following Brown’s arrest.  Surveillance cameras captured Brown riding a bike consistent in appearance on the date of the Clarendon Street assaults and on a second date in October, prosecutors said.

Brown is a Level 3 sex offender based on a 1985 conviction in Suffolk Superior Court for aggravated rape.

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.

ADA Greer Spatz of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit is also assigned to the case.  Anne Kelley-McCarthy is the assigned victim-witness advocate.  Brown is represented by Attorney Edward Molari.  The cases return to court May 24.

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