Boston Police Department announced Wednesday that Steven Lent, a 26-year-old Allston resident, was arrested Friday in connection to four different sexual assaults in Allston and Brighton over the past year. Lent has been charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery in relation to the May 4 groping of two women affiliated with Boston University, as well as two counts of indecent assault and battery and one count of rape in relation to two more sexual assaults that occurred on August 14, according to a press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
BPD detectives in the Sexual Assault Unit and the Boston University Police Department worked together to identify Lent as the main suspect in the assaults, according to the press release.
Renee Nadeau Algarin, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, said in an email that BUPD’s assistance in the investigation was appreciated and instrumental to the successful arrest of Lent.
“Suffolk [County] prosecutors are grateful to the Boston University Police Department for their efforts in helping Boston Police detectives identify a suspect in these four sexual assaults,” she said. “This collaboration between agencies is vital to ensuring public safety and holding offenders accountable for their actions.”
According to the release, BUPD provided the Boston Police with surveillance video and images that were critical in identifying Lent as the assault suspect.
Judge David Donnelly imposed a $50,000 bail with additional orders that Lent must follow, the release stated. Lent took the bail.
“As a condition of his release on bail, he is ordered to stay out of Allston and Brighton,” Algarin said. “If he violates that or any of the other conditions of his release on bail, he can have that bail revoked.”
If his bail is revoked, she said, Lent can potentially be held without bail for 60 days.
On August 14, according to the release, police were notified that a woman was sexually assaulted by a stranger near 39 Brighton Ave. in Allston at approximately 7:50 p.m. Around 8:30 the same night, a second woman was sexually assaulted in the area of Quint Avenue and Brighton Avenue by a man matching the description given by the first victim.
The following May, a woman reported to the Boston Police that a man approached her from behind and attempted to lift her dress while she walked near Chester Street around 5:20 p.m., according to the press release. Later that night at approximately 9:00 p.m., the suspect once again approached a woman from behind, lifted her skirt and assaulted her on Commonwealth Avenue. In both cases, he fled the scene before the police arrived.
Scott Paré, BUPD’s deputy director of public safety, said the department sometimes assists BPD or Brookline Police Department with these kinds of cases.
“We’re thrilled that we have a suspect in custody at this time,” he said.
Several BU students said they feel happy about the arrest of Lent and said they felt the situation was handled well.
Maya Polackal, a rising sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she felt comforted when she heard Lent was arrested, especially since she received numerous calls from her mom about the assailant.
“It’s nice to know that even though I wasn’t particularly worried, parents have something to be relieved about,” she said. “Also it’s nice to know that the police [are] actually doing something and that we have a system that actually does things in response to public outcry.”
Dante Velasquez, a rising senior in the College of Communication, said he personally did not feel in danger because he is male, but that he feels like people can feel safer knowing the police handled the situation.
“I think [the police in general] handled the situation pretty well,” he said. “I remember seeing pictures of the suspect on the students’ residences, like, ‘Who is this man?’ ‘Have you seen him?’ So I felt like they did a good job trying to identify who he was to come to a good resolution to the problem.
Joe Foster, a recent graduate from COM, said BUPD and BPD did a good job of publicizing the situation to people and warning people to be safe.
“[The police] handled it really well with letting people know, ‘Hey this is all happening and we’re trying to find the guy, be safe out there,’” he said. “It’s not necessarily easy to identify the attacker in every situation so the fact that they were able to get some random dude off the street was pretty impressive.”
