Alleged Allston attackers arraigned

Three men suspected of robbing two Boston University students at gunpoint face up to life in prison, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jake Wark said.

The men were arraigned in Brighton District Court Tuesday, with a court date to follow on Feb. 12. The fourth man named in the case is 16 years old, and he was arraigned in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court to return to court on Feb. 4 for a pretrial conference.

One of the alleged victims, who requested anonymity for security purposes, said a detective brought him and his friend, who was allegedly assaulted, to the scene of the crime on the night of the incident, where they identified one of their alleged attackers face to face.

Bail was set at $25,000 for the three alleged adult attackers, Brandon Bacheldo, 19, and Tubin Sindor, 18, of Cambridge and Tory Howard, 25, of Boston. As of Friday, the three alleged attackers still had not made bail, Deputy Sheriff James Lavey said.

Wark said Bacheldo was out on bail for another crime, and would have to pay an additional $25,000.

At about 11:30 p.m., a tan Nissan Pathfinder pulled up next to the two students as they walked in Allston.

‘The doors opened, the guys walked out, and I screamed for my friend to run,’ he said. ‘We kept running, and the guys kept saying, ‘come back, come back!”

His friend was unable to outrun the car, and the alleged attackers caught up with him, stealing most of his possessions: an iPod, a laptop, a wallet and a watch.

The student who was not being pursued debated whether to run away or yell something to distract the attackers. Realizing that his friend was up against four people, he yelled to cause a diversion.

‘As soon as I yelled, they turned to me, so [my friend] ran away, and [the assailants] started chasing after me, so I climbed over the snow onto the sidewalk and ran back to our friends’ house on Gardner [Street],’ he said.

The alleged assailants and their alleged victims were not alone on Gardner Street that night, one of the alleged victims said.

‘There was a guy on the street, and we asked [for] help, but he didn’t do anything because he was with a girl,’ he said.

Shaken by this recent occurrence, he said he has made some adjustments for wandering the streets late at night.

‘We started walking in bigger groups now,’ he said. ‘We walk around groups of four to five.’

BU Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said students should always remain aware of their surroundings and walk in large groups.

In 2008, 9 robberies were reported to BUPD, and one other attempted robbery took place at 189 Bay State Rd. earlier in January.

Many BU students said the robbery was expected, but the use of a gun during the act was upsetting.’

‘We’re still in a city, and it’s a college neighborhood,’ BU School of Law student Ben Greenberg said. ‘The fact that they had guns was surprising.’

College of General Studies freshman Travis Giske said he would feel a lot safer if the emergency call boxes, blue-lighted phones scattered across campus with a direct connection to BUPD rapid-response services, was expanded to the Allston-Brighton area.

‘Technically, it is not part of our campus, but many BU students are always there,’ he said.

‘It’s unnerving, but you sort of expect it. It’s Allston. It’s what you sign up for,’ College of Arts and Sciences senior Kate Peruzzini, who lives on Gardner Street, said.

Staff reporters Christina Braccio, Garrett Brnger, Vivian Ho, Jessica Owen and Ben Timmins contributed to this story.