PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Three suburban Boston high school soccer players used a broomstick to rape one freshman boy and try to rape two others last week at a sports team-building retreat in western Massachusetts, a prosecutor said Tuesday. One was held pending a hearing to determine whether he is a danger to the public.
That suspect, Galileo Mondol, 17, and two 16-year-old boys attacked the freshman and attempted to rape the others Aug. 25 in a cabin at Camp Lenox in Otis, in the Berkshire Mountains, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday. Mondol was not involved at first but joined in, Berkshire Assistant District Attorney Rachel Eramo said.
“I want to have a crack at that,” Mondol is reported to have said, according to Eramo.
The three defendants then tried to convince the accusers not to report the attack, she said.
The allegations have shaken the Boston suburb of Somerville, including Mayor Joe Curtatone, a volunteer football coach at the camp. Somerville High was holding a team-building retreat at the camp for the soccer and football teams. The defendants and accusers all play soccer.
Mondol pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated rape of a child, assault on a child with intent to commit rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, indecent assault, and witness intimidation Tuesday. His dangerousness hearing was scheduled for Friday.
Under Massachusetts law, a 17-year-old is considered an adult and automatically charged as one. The two 16-year-old boys, whose names were not released because of their age, were to be arraigned in juvenile court on similar charges.
They were arrested Friday, and Mondol was held over the weekend on $100,000 bail. A judge refused to lower bail Tuesday, even though his lawyer William Korman said his client had nothing to do with the alleged assault.
“Even the other defendants and the victims said my client had nothing to do with the incident in question,” Korman said, adding that Mondol tried to stop the attack. He called the bail amount outrageous.
Mondol’s parents were in court but made no comment outside. Mondol was to start his junior year of high school Tuesday, Korman said.
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