Alleged Rapist Held on $2M Bail

The man arrested for public masturbation in Cambridge this past April has found himself in trouble with the law yet again—this time, on two charges of rape.

Kevin Bennett, 33, was arrested on Oct. 9 near Augusta, Maine with a default warrant from his previous arrest on the Harvard College campus. He has pled not guilty to the charges in Cambridge District Court, and is being held on a $2 million bail.

Bennett was arrested in front of the Malkin Athletic Center (MAC) in April after a dramatic chase that started with him masturbating in a window visible to the public near Peet’s Coffee and ended with him being tackled by a contingent of Harvard University and Cambridge Police officers.

The default warrant used to arrest him in Maine was outstanding as a result of his failure to appear in court for the masturbation case.

He is now being charged with much more serious crimes—two counts each of kidnapping, aggravated rape, and assault with intent to murder.

According to a press release from the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, on two occasions in September, Bennett picked up women in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston and brought them to a parking area in the vicinity of One Alewife Center, where he allegedly sexually assaulted them.

The first occurred on Sept. 17, 2005, in the early morning hours. Bennett is alleged to have picked up a 26-year-old Brighton woman at the intersection of Congress and Milk Streets by offering her a ride to the Back Bay area.

The woman got into what was described as a “black SUV,” in which Bennett allegedly drove her to the area of One Alewife Center and sexually assaulted her. After Bennett allegedly left her in the parking lot, the woman contacted a friend for a ride, went to a local hospital for treatment, and contacted the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) to report the incident.

The second attack took place during the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 24. Bennett is alleged to have picked up a 23-year-old New York woman while masquerading as a taxi driver near the intersection of North and Union Streets. He allegedly offered her a ride to Brighton, but instead took her to the same parking area near One Alewife Center, where he violently physically assaulted and raped her, according to the press release.

After the defendant left her, the woman traveled to Route 16, where a passing driver stopped and brought her to the Arlington Police Department.

The woman was brought to an area hospital for treatment for injuries sustained in the attack and the investigation was turned over to the CPD.

Bennett was charged with these two crimes based on a DNA match made through Massachusetts’ Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), an electronic database that allows federal, state, and local crime labs to compare DNA samples.

Seminal fluids recovered from rape test kits performed on the two victims were found to match Bennett’s DNA profile.

According to CPD spokesman Frank T. Pasquarello, Bennett’s arrest in Augusta, Maine was made with the assistance of the Maine State Police and the Maine Sheriff’s office.

Bennett was arraigned on Oct. 11 in Maine as a fugitive from justice. He waived rendition and was transferred to the custody of the CPD.

He is currently due back in court on Nov. 10 for a probable cause hearing.