The case against a New Jersey lawyer who was already facing charges in connection to a series of assaults and rapes in Boston has escalated, as Matthew Nilo faces new charges.
This time, Nilo has been indicted on charges in connection to a series of rapes and sexual assaults in the North End between January 2007 and July 2008, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney.
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Nilo was raised in the North End and graduated from Boston Latin Academy. He was living in the historic neighborhood at the time of the alleged sexual assault spree about 15 years ago.
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The 35-year-old lawyer, who has been living in Weehawken, New Jersey, was initially arrested about a month ago. He was charged with four sexual attacks in Charlestown, when he was between 19 and 20 years old.
He is now facing seven additional charges, and has been indicted by a grand jury on one count of rape, one count of aggravated rape, three counts of assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery.
"It was a particularly difficult case, because there would be a number of months that would occur between the incidents," said Ed Davis, who was Boston's police commissioner when the alleged crimes took place. "We had a lot of undercover investigators in the area at the time."
In a news release announcing the new charges, prosecutors with the DA's office said that the new allegations involve five attacks on four women. Prosecutors said the women were attacked while walking alone and in the dark. One woman was said to be attacked two separate times, 11 days apart.
In several cases of the cases that were already made public, Nilo would allegedly pick up women in a car and rape them, some at gunpoint, according to prosecutors.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
A defense attorney weighed in on the case, saying that the district attorney will likely combine all the indictments and try them at once.
“Any jury, if they see that he’s charged with all of these accusations from different women, different ages, different dates, it’s going to be very hard to convince a jury that he didn’t do it," Urbelis Law defense attorney Benjamin Urbelis said.
Investigators said that DNA evidence helped to trace the assaults to Nilo using forensic genealogy, an investigative tool not available at the time.
"I can tell you this case demonstrates that no attack will go uninvestigated, no suspect will go unpursued, and no amount of time will insulate a criminal from a crime,” District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in a statement.
Some of the charges can carry up to life in prison if convicted. Nilo's next court appearance is July 13.
He had been detained, until he posted a $500,000 bail two weeks ago.
