Rep Basile calls for calm
At Monday’s Orient Heights Community meeting Representative Carlo Basile made a passionate plea for calm as the November 5 casino referendum vote approaches.
“After November 5 we have to live together in this community so what I’m asking not as your state representative but as a human being—stop attacking one another,” he said. “If we vote yes or no as a community we are all fathers, mothers and families. I serve because I love this community. I get offended when people say I sold out and that I would support something that would negatively impact this community. Do you really think I would do that to my two boys? This is a campaign so lets keep it clean. We all have to live here. If we have a casino or don’t have a casino I’m not going anywhere ever.”
Community meeting
In the wake of the sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl on Faywood Ave last month the Boston Police from District 7 recently held a community meeting to brief residents on the case.
Residents had concerns that the information about the assault were not broadcast to the entire community in a timely manner.
Police explained it was an isolated incident and due to the sensitivity of the case did not want to jeopardize their attempts to catch the perpetrator.
Jose Avila, 39, of East Boston was arrested at his home two days after the incident arraigned at East Boston District Court on one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 for the Sept. 8 incident on Faywood.
Assistant District Attorney Ellen Lemire of the DA’s Child Protection Unit recommended that he be held on $100,000 cash bail and that Avila be confined to house arrest and wear a GPS monitoring device if he posts that amount.
Judge Roberto Ronquillo, Jr., imposed $30,000, granted her recommended conditions of release, and further ordered that Avila stay away from all children under 17 except his own child.
Ronquillo also granted a protective order sought by Lemire that keeps the victim’s name and identifying information out of public view.
Lemire told the court that the young victim was playing outside with friends with neighborhood children on the afternoon of September 8 when a member of her family told her to come inside. As she gathered up her toys, she lost her grip on a toy brush that blew into the street. The girl went to pick up the brush, Lemire said, but stopped because a car was coming.
The girl waited for the dark-colored sedan to pass, she said, but instead it stopped.
A man exited the car, picked up the brush, and gave it to the girl. As he did so, the man sexually assaulted her. The incident was witnessed by children in the area and a neighbor who happened to be looking out the window of a nearby upper-floor apartment. That neighbor shouted at the man to leave the girl alone. The neighbor then came downstairs to the scene. The girl, who was visibly upset by the incident, gave an account consistent with those of others in the area.
Witnesses told responding Boston Police that they had seen the assailant in the neighborhood before but did not know his name. Based on interviews and other evidence, detectives on Saturday provided the adult witness with a photo array from which he positively identified Avila, prosecutors said.
Investigators are looking into potential connections between the incident and other, similar assaults in Eastie. At this time, however, Avila has been charged only in connection with the Faywood Avenue assault.
Eastie woman survives Chelsea shooting
A 20-year-old female from East Boston was shot early last Friday morning inside of a 190 Washington Ave apartment in Chelsea. Chelsea police officers responded to a report of a gunshot victim at that address at 3:19 a.m. Arriving officers and EMS observed the female suffering from a single gunshot wound to the head. The victim was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital and is currently in stable but serious condition.
Chelsea Detectives are investigating the case and are looking for a male person of interest who is known to the victim and others residing at that address. Chelsea Police are not releasing the name of the victim or person of interest at this time.