BOSTON, July 9, 2015— The man indicted for a series of sexual assaults in Allston was held on high bail at his Superior Court arraignment today, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

STEVEN LENT (D.O.B. 7/14/88), formerly of Allston and most recently of New Hampshire, was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court this morning on charges of rape, assault with intent to rape, and four counts of indecent assault and battery in connection with four separate assaults that occurred in August 2014 and May 2015.  Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson imposed bail of $250,000. 

Prior to today’s arraignment, Lent had remained free on $50,000 bail imposed at his May 26 arraignment in Brighton Municipal Court; at that time he was ordered to stay out of Allston and Brighton while the case was pending.

Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum, chief of the DA’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit, told the court that Lent was identified by Boston Police Sexual Assault detectives as the assailant in two assaults on Aug. 14 and two similar assaults on May 4.  All of the alleged assaults took place near the Brighton Avenue apartment where Lent lived at the time of the crimes.

The first charged assault occurred at approximately 7:25 p.m. in the area of 39 Brighton Ave.  Lent fled on foot after the victim screamed and took a picture of him on her cell phone. 

Less than an hour later, Lent allegedly assaulted a second woman in the area of Quint and Brighton avenues and again fled when the victim screamed.  A surveillance camera captured the then-unidentified assailant drink from a water bottle and then discard it in the area of Brighton and Quint avenues just prior to the assault; detectives were able to retrieve that bottle and produce a DNA profile of the assailant.

According to prosecutors, Lent assaulted another woman shortly after 5:20 p.m. on May 4 in the area of Chester Street; he fled when the victim attempted to punch him.  A fourth victim was assaulted on Commonwealth Avenue at approximately 7:00 p.m. that same date. 

Boston University Police provided Boston Police detectives with surveillance images that were used to identify Lent as the assailant in the May 4 attacks and he was then linked to the earlier assaults through additional video, witness descriptions, and physical evidence.  Upon identifying Lent as a suspect, detectives were able to match DNA found on the water bottle recovered near the scene of the second assault to that on a cigarette Lent was observed discarding on May 19, prosecutors said.

Sexual assault can happen to anyone. While the victims of any crime are asked to call 911 in an emergency, the survivors of sexual violence in Suffolk County can also call the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s 24-hour hotline at 800-841-8371. The Boston Area Rape Crisis Center provides medical advocacy, legal services, counseling, and other services to victims of rape and sexual assault.

Kerry Kolditz is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Lent was represented by Matthew Rickman.  He returns to court Aug. 13.

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