Nicholas Chacon was arraigned on Aug. 21 by the Cambridge Superior Court in connection with a series of sexual assaults that plagued the Medford and Somerville area last semester.
Since his arrest in May, Chacon has been held without bail, and judge Elizabeth Fahey ordered at his arraignment that he remain remanded. His next appearance in court will be at a pretrial conference tomorrow.
Chacon, 19 at the time of his arrest, was arraigned on charges of aggravated rape, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 years of age.
"We allege that this man committed a series of sexual assaults by preying on a number of unsuspecting women, placing an entire community in fear until he was apprehended," Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard T. Leone said in a press release.
The crimes encompassed by these charges involve five victims and range from groping-and-running to more violent assaults, and all happened in the general vicinity of Tufts in the two-week period between April 12-26.
They are part of a larger spree of sexual assaults, two of which had Tufts students as victims. Chacon has not been charged in either of these two cases.
Before he was arrested, Chacon was called in for questioning by the Medford Police Department and came voluntarily on May 4. While there, he admitted to the assaults against the five victims.
His first arraignment, this one by the Somerville District Court, came on May 7. He was held without bail following a dangerousness hearing on May 15 and a Middlesex County grand jury indicted him on June 13.
Despite his confession to police, Chacon has pleaded not guilty in court. But according to the Middlesex County district attorney's office, there is DNA evidence that links him to the crimes.
According to those involved in apprehending Chacon, hard work and cooperation allowed a task force created for this purpose to succeed.
Tufts University Police Department Detective Lieutenant Charles Lonero, who was part of a taskforce along with Medford, Somerville and state police officers, praised its work.
"We put all our time and effort, basically almost around the clock, for almost two weeks to work this case," he said. This included working nights and having multiple meetings every day to go over intelligence.
Lonero and all other task force members were recognized for their hard work on June 26, when they received a citation from the Somerville Board of Aldermen. "[They] were kind enough to bring us to city hall," Lonero said.
The citation honored the detectives "for their dedicated and cooperative police work resulting in the capture of the alleged perpetrator of the recent sexual assaults in West Somerville and West Medford," according to the minutes of the Board of Alderman meeting.
