Man faces indecent assault charges as multiple women report being targeted in Winthrop, Massachusetts

A 26-year-old man was arrested on multiple criminal charges, including indecent assault, after police say women reported being targeted by him in downtown Winthrop, Massachusetts. He also allegedly attempted to inappropriately touch a 9-year-old girl. 

Kervens Boutin, of Stoughton, was arraigned briefly in East Boston District Court on Thursday. He did not show his face in court and has been ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days followed by a bail hearing.

Winthrop police said a woman and her child came to the station and "reported that a man had attempted to pull down her pants, while making sexually explicit comments" outside the Wadsworth Building on Winthrop Street. 

Responding officers quickly found a suspect fitting the man's description, but he ran away, police said. Officers used a Taser to stop him after he allegedly resisted arrest.

Three officers sustained minor injuries during the arrest, with one being taken to the hospital. The suspect was also hospitalized.

Police said that since the arrest, other women have come forward to report similar incidents. One woman said a man matching the description of a Black man wearing a red jacket and jeans "had run past her, slapping her buttocks while she waited for the bus," according to police.

In another incident that occurred just before the indecent assault on Winthrop Street, two women said they found him "sitting on a couch inside their apartment with his pants unbuckled." He was removed by building maintenance. 

After an initial mental health evaluation, clinical psychiatrist Dr. Kerri Kane said in court that Boutin was demonstrating symptoms of psychosis. "He made unrelated statements to questions, and he also expressed seemingly paranoid delusions regarding the circumstances related to the case," Dr. Kane said.

Dr. Kane says Boutin was hospitalized for two weeks back in 2020 when his family feared he was suffering from psychosis.

The prosecution initially asked for a $15,000 cash bail, something that frustrated friends of victims.

"The guy, he got hit with a $15,000 bail for assault and battery on a child. On a 9-year-old child," a friend of one of the victims told reporters outside court. "Does that seem fair to anybody else here? I don't know."

Police said surveillance footage was key to investigating the case. Boutin is also facing charges of breaking and entering, disorderly conduct, endangering a child and resisting arrest.   

Boutin is expected back in court on Oct. 20 following his mental health evaluation.