Charlestown rapes suspect Matthew Nilo free on $50,000 bail on new charges in 2007-08 North End attacks
BOSTON - Matthew Nilo, the New Jersey attorney accused in a series of sex assaults in Charlestown more than 15 years ago, was released on $50,000 bail Thursday on a new set charges in Boston.
Nilo, 35, was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on new charges that stem from five attacks on four women in the North End in 2007 and 2008. One of the victims was attacked twice, 11 days apart, according to the district attorney.
Prosecutors said the women were assaulted while walking alone, in the dark, either at night or early in the morning. The attacks happened in January 2007, July 2007, January 2008, and July 2008.
Nilo was indicted last month by a Suffolk County grand jury on seven charges in the case - 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.
Nilo pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday morning before he was handcuffed and led out of court. He was held in custody briefly until he posted the new $50,000 bail. He had been free on $500,000 bail after pleading not guilty to the charges in the Charlestown investigation.
Prosecutors previously said Nilo raped three women in the Terminal Street area of Charlestown on August 18, 2007, November 22, 2007, and August 5, 2008, and tried to rape a fourth on December 23, 2008.
Prosecutors said Nilo was living in the North End at the time of all of the attacks in Charlestown and the North End.
"They have not turned over any discovery to me on these new allegations, and no police reports," said defense attorney Joseph Cataldo. "I think they are trying to solve some unresolved cases, and I am afraid the government might be piling on just trying to claim Mr. Nilo committed these crimes."
District Attorney Kevin Hayden said DNA evidence played a role in the new indictments.
"The victim's pants were sent to a lab and a mixture of three DNA profiles was located on the interior waistband of her pants," says Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum, talking about one of Nilo's accusers in the case. "Only one of these profiles is male. Testing revealed it was 43.3 billion times more likely that the mixture included the defendant Matthew Nilo than another contributor."
Nilo became of person of interest in the Charlestown attacks in 2022, according to investigators. In early 2023, police started surveillance on him in New Jersey where he lived and at the New York City law firm where he worked. Investigators allegedly took a glass that he used at a corporate event and matched Nilo's DNA to the attacker in all four incidents.
Lori Pnkham, one of Nilo's accusers in the Charlestown cases, was in the courtroom on Thursday morning. She can't believe he was released on bail.
"His bail was not revoked, and that was honestly a bit disappointing," Pinkham said. "I thought his bail would be revoked, and him taken into custody. He has already bailed so much it's not surprising. He is walking around with a bag of $50,000 in cash, so he is throwing money at this case, and hoping it will go away."
Nilo is due back in court for a pre-trial hearing in the North End case on September 14.
