Matthew Nilo's lawyer addresses the press
Joseph P. Cataldo says that the way his client's DNA was obtained and analyzed is unconstitutional (Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)
Serial Boston rape suspect Matthew Nilo's attorney on Thursday said the government is "piling" sexual assault cases against his client in an attempt to solve them.
His comments came after a pre-trial conference in Suffolk County for Nilo in which his attorney suggested the suspect would be posting a $50,000 bail for seven sexual assault charges filed against him in June, on top of the $500,000 bail he posted last month for seven other sexual assault charges filed against him in May.
"They have not turned over any discovery from the new allegations, no police reports. I think they're trying to solve some unresolved cases, and I think the government might be piling on, just trying to claim that Mr. Nilo committed these crimes," Nilo's attorney, Joseph Cataldo, told reporters outside the court.
Cataldo added that he thinks it was "unconstitutional" for the government to collect Nilo's DNA without a warrant and believes the court will rule in his client's favor.
BOSTON SERIAL RAPE SUSPECT MATTHEW NILO HID DARK SECRETS IN DOUBLE LIFE AS FIANCE, ATTORNEY: EXPERT
Matthew Nilo and fiancee, Laura Griffin await his hearing in Suffolk County Court in Boston, Massachusetts, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is facing even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Lane Turner / Boston Globe)
Nilo, a 35-year-old Boston native, is accusing of sexually assaulting or raping eight woman — including one woman twice — between 2007 and 2008 in the Charlestown and North End areas of Boston.
The court ordered Nilo, who appeared beside his fiancée, held on additional $50,000 cash bail Thursday upon the condition that he does not contact any of the victims in the case and stays 1,000 feet from Charter Street in the North End of Boston, where several of the alleged assaults occurred.
Matthew Nilo and fiancee, Laura Griffin await his hearing in Suffolk County Court in Boston, Massachusetts, Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is facing even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Lane Turner / Boston Globe)
He has not been ordered to stay in Boston and may return to his home in New Jersey with a GPS ankle monitor, but his passport has been revoked.
Matthew Nilo and his fiancee, Laura Griffin, walk hand-in-hand after leaving Suffolk County Court in Boston Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is being released on bail as he faces even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
"He does have the cash on him personally," Nilo's attorney, Joseph Cataldo, told the magistrate on Thursday.
BOSTON SERIAL RAPE SUSPECT MATTHEW NILO NOW ACCUSED OF ATTACKING 8 WOMEN
Cataldo also said his client plans on fighting the 14 charges filed against him "vigorously in court, both on a factual basis and on a legal basis."
Matthew Nilo and his fiancee, Laura Griffin, walk through the lobby of Suffolk County Court in Boston on Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is being released on bail as he faces even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
A Suffolk County grand jury in June indicted Nilo on seven charges, including 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 stemming from attacks that took place in the North End between 2007 and 2008, when Nilo would have been 19 or 20.
BOSTON SERIAL RAPE SUSPECT MATTHEW NILO RELEASED ON BAIIL
In May, authorities charged Nilo with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape and one count of indecent assault and battery. The initial charges were filed in connection with attacks on four women between 2007 and 2008 in the Terminal Street area of Charlestown after DNA linked him to the four alleged crimes.
Matthew Nilo and his fiancee, Laura Griffin, leave Suffolk County Court in Boston on Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is being released on bail as he faces even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
During Thursday's press conference prosecutors read new details about the assaults Nilo was most recently charged in.
Matthew Nilo and his fiancee, Laura Griffin, walk through the lobby of Suffolk County Court in Boston on Thursday, July 13, 2023. Nilo is being released on bail as he faces even more sexual assault charges stemming back to 2007. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
On Jan. 6, 2007, around 1:20 a.m., a 24-year-old woman was walking home to the North End while talking on the phone when a male grabbed her from behind on Charter Street.
"Don't f---ing turn around," the male stated before kicking her left thigh and pinning her to the ground with his foot, according to Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum.
ALLEGED BOSTON RAPE VICTIM FEARS SUSPECT MATTHEW NILO ‘COULD GET AWAY’ AFTER RELEASE ON BAIL
The male restricted both of her arms so she could not fight back but fled toward Commercial Street when the victim screamed.
The Boston Police Department and FBI linked Matthew Nilo, 35, of Boston, to a string of rapes in Boston between 2007 and 2008 through forensic genealogy and DNA analysis. (Facebook/ Matthew Nilo)
On July 13, 2007, around 4 a.m., a 33-year-old woman was walking home on Charter Street in the North End when a male restricted her arms from behind and sexually assaulted her. The victim screamed, and the suspect fled toward Commercial Street.
A blue Honda Accord was captured on nearby surveillance footage around the time of the attack, and prosecutors noted that a blue, 1994 Honda Accord was registered in Nilo's name in 2007.
Matthew Nilo's profile pictures on Facebook dating back to 2007 and 2008 show him holding bottles of booze and partying with friends. (Facebook/ Matthew Nilo)
On Jan. 3, 2008, around 11 p.m., a 24-year-old victim was walking home on Charter Street while talking on the phone when a male restrained her from behind and pushed her onto the sidewalk.
"The attack was so violent that she fell right out of her shoes," Feigenbaum said.
The suspect held the victim down and assaulted her, at which point she yelled, and he jogged away.
Matthew Nilo has been indicted in Superior Court in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, but has not been arraigned yet. (Facebook/ Matthew Nilo)
The same victim was attacked by a male whom she "100%" believes was the same suspect just 11 days later on Jan. 14 around 7 a.m., when she was walking to work and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said. The assault ended when a car drove by and the suspect fled toward Commercial Street.
"The victim was transported after the attack to the hospital and underwent a sexual assault evidence collection kit. This kit was sent to the crime lab in 2008, but no DNA profile could be obtained from any piece of evidence. However, in 2023, based on the similarities between attacks recently tied to the defendant, the victim's pants were sent to a private lab, and a mixture of three DNA profiles was located on the interior waistband of her pants," Feigenbaum said.
Only one of the three DNA profiles was male, and "testing reveals it was 43.3 billion times more likely that the mixture included the defendant, Matthew Nilo, than another contributor," the prosecutor explained.
Nilo denied knowing or having any physical or sexual contact with the victim when police questioned him in 2023.
Matthew Nilo enters his arraignment at the Hudson County Superior Court on Thursday, June 1, 2023 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Nilo, a cyber attorney in Manhattan, is accused of raping three women in Boston between 2007 and 2008. (Kevin C. Downs for Fox News Digital)
In the last case read aloud in court on Thursday, the suspect allegedly attacked another victim on the Fourth of July in 2008. A 23-year-old female took a cab home from Faneuil Hall to the North End. While walking down Foster Street, a male attacked her from behind and sexually assaulted her. The suspect threatened the victim with a gun, but she was able to fight him off, according to Feigenbaum.
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The Boston Police Department and FBI said in May that they linked Nilo to the four sexual assault cases from Charlestown through forensic genealogy and DNA analysis. The attacks were DNA-linked, authorities said when they arrested the suspect at his residence in New Jersey.
Nilo will again appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on Jan. 16, 2024.
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