Matthew Nilo, an attorney from New Jersey, returned to court following allegations of sexual assaults on multiple women in Boston over 17 years ago. His defense team is challenging the DNA evidence collected during an FBI sting operation at a restaurant in Manhattan.
Nilo, now 38, was accompanied to Suffolk Superior Court by his fiancée Laura Griffin, who continues to support him through the legal proceedings. Prosecutors argue that DNA evidence links Nilo to several attacks in Boston during 2007 and 2008, when he was 19 or 20 years old.
“The commonwealth claims a link between Mr. Nilo and DNA from 15 years ago, obtained from tableware in New York without a warrant,” said his attorney Joseph Cataldo.
The defense contends that the evidence should be dismissed due to the lack of a warrant when FBI agents gathered samples during a 2023 observation at Oscar Wilde Restaurant and Bar. Agents reportedly followed Nilo from his New Jersey residence to the Manhattan location, collecting items such as drinking glasses and a napkin used during his meal.
Nilo’s defense argues that the items were not abandoned, suggesting he didn’t have a real chance to retrieve them. Prosecutors counter, stating he had no privacy expectation once items were left at the restaurant.
Joe Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge at FBI Boston, commented that Nilo’s arrest resulted from investigative genetic genealogy, linking DNA from the assaults to a relative’s profile in a public database. Prosecutors matched this profile to DNA from a glass Nilo used at a New York corporate event.
Nilo was initially charged in May 2023 with multiple counts of aggravated rape, kidnapping, and assaults. Additional charges followed in July 2023, including rape and assault with intent to rape. Throughout the legal process, Nilo remains free on bail, with his fiancée by his side.