Boston serial rape suspect Matthew Nilo on Thursday pleaded not guilty to fresh charges involving the sexually assault of four more women 15 years ago.
Nilo, the 35-year-old lawyer was accused of attacking four women in Boston’s historic North End neighborhood between 2007 and 2008.
Previously he was charged with a string of incidents involving another four women in the city’s affluent Charlestown neighborhood, to which he also pleaded not guilty.
On July 14 he was arraigned on seven new charges, including one count of both rape and aggravated rape, three counts of assault to rape, and two counts of indecent assault and battery, according to legal filings.
A clerk magistrate set his bail at $50,000 cash, which his lawyer said his client planned to post immediately. The assaults happened in January 2007, July 2007, January 2008, and July 2008, prosecutors said.
Matthew Nilo, 35, right, pleaded not guilty to the rapes of four women in Boston’s North End neighborhood in 2007 and 2008. He was previously charged with three other rapes and one attempted rape in the Charlestown neighborhood at the same time
Nilo, pictured entering court on June 5, has pleaded not guilty to charges related to raping four women in both Charlestown and North End
Nilo pleaded not guilty to the charges over the incidents involving the first four women, and was released from Boston jail after his fiancée posted $500,000 of his $5million bail and he was fitted with a GPS ankle monitor.
He was around 19 to 20 years old a the time of the attacks and was working as a cyber claims lawyer with the Cowbell insurance firm at the time of his arrest earlier this year.
However, his employment was suspended pending the ongoing rape investigation.
After his arraignment on Thursday, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin R. Hayden told reporters the new allegations follow a similar pattern to the Charlestown attacks, the Boston Globe reported.
‘One of the victims was even attacked twice in just 11 days,’ Hayden said. ‘The attacks occurred during a time when Matthew Nilo lived in the North End and coincide with the period of time of the attacks on other women in Charlestown, for which Mr. Nilo was previously arraigned.’
The prosecutor said he hoped advancements in DNA technology would provide the evidence needed to convict Nilo.
‘Nothing can eliminate the terror experienced by these survivors,’ Hayden said.
‘But at least now they have the knowledge that Mr. Nilo must answer the horrible [crimes] he’s alleged to have committed. We hope this provides some solace to survivors of these attacks.’
When asked why action had not been taken to ensure Nilo was not released on bail, the prosecutor suggested because the incidents were 15 years ago, he is not still thought to be a threat to society.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for September 14.
Last month after he was indicted on the charges, his lawyer Joseph Cataldo said in a statement: ‘You can expect both a legal and factual challenge to the government’s case.’
Authorities believed the rapes were connected, and released a composite sketch of the suspect
Nilo was released from a Boston jail on June 15 when his fiancé, Laura Griffin, center, posted $500,000 of his bail
Matthew Nilo holds hands with his fiancée Laura Griffin as he is released from jail
Prosecutors allege that Nilo, a Boston native, attacked four women in the North End in 2007 and 2008 – including two attacks on the same woman just 11 days apart.
One attack on January 14, 2008 occurred during the middle of a snowstorm, WCVB reports, while another took place on July 4, 2008.
The string of assaults left the neighborhood on edge at the time, as police warned women to be vigilant and even wear rape whistles.
Authorities believed the rapes were connected, and released a composite sketch of the suspect.
‘The newly-indicted attacks occurred at the time Nilo was living in the North End and during the same period as the attacks against women in Charlestown, for which Nilo is already charged,’ the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement announcing the new charges.
‘The incidents followed a similar pattern. The victims were attacked while they were walking alone, in the dark, either at night or early in the morning.’
District Attorney Kevin Hayden said more information about the new charges will be released when Nilo is arraigned next month.
‘But I can tell you that DNA evidence played a role in these new indictments,’ he told the Boston Globe.
Nilo is seen partying with friends during his days at a Boston private school in 2007
Alleged victim Lori Pinkham spoke to DailyMail.com outside of a Boston courtroom, calling Nilo ‘a very evil person and he used weapons and force to violently kidnap and rape multiple women’
Police arrested Nilo on May 30 in an FBI sting in which he was lured out of the luxury harbor side apartment he shared with his fiancé, Laura Griffin, with the claim that a package had been delivered that was too big to fit in the swanky facility’s lockers.
Law enforcement claims to have linked Nilo to the four assaults in Charlestown with DNA evidence identified through the genealogy database 23 and Me, to which family members had voluntarily submitted samples.
The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative – a federal program designed to help process a backlog of rape kits – was used in the investigation after Boston Police Department reached out last October.
By April, Nilo had been identified as a suspect according to FBI Special Agent Joseph R Bonavolonta.
He then waived his extradition back to Massachusetts, and was charged in the Charlestown rapes, in which, prosecutors say, Nilo picked up women downtown and brought them to Terminal Street, where he would assault them.
Nil’’s first alleged victim, Lori Pinkham, spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com, sharing her ordeal publicly.
Pinkham admitted that she had lost hope that her attacker would ever be caught and said she was, ‘in disbelief and awe’ when police came to her home and told her they had identified him.
She said, ‘He’s a very evil person and he used weapons and force to violently kidnap and rape multiple women.’
Pinkham could not get into the details of her own assault, she said, but is prepared to testify against Nilo if called to by prosecutors.
Meanwhile, Nilo’s attorney says he intends to challenge the constitutionality of the evidence collected by police and federal authorities used to arrest him.
Nilo was ordered to surrender his passport, have no contact with the victims or witnesses and stay at least 1,000 feet away from Terminal Street, where the alleged Charlestown rapes occurred
Nilo was released from a Boston jail on June 15 after Griffin paid $500,000 towards his bail.
He was fitted for a GPS tracker and was released on the condition he surrender his passport, have no contact with the victims or witnesses and stay at least 1,000 feet away from Terminal Street.
Exclusive DailyMail.com pictures and video show Nilo walking from the courthouse with Griffin, who clutched his hand tightly throughout.
Even more charges may be forthcoming, as police in Madison, Wisconsin – where Nilo attended college – are looking back at their old cases to see if there may be any connection with the suspect.
‘Our detectives are aware of Matthew Nilo,’ the police department said in a statement to WCVB. ‘We are working with Boston police [and] reviewing old cases to see if there is any connection.’
