A New Jersey-based attorney accused of multiple sexual assaults in Boston more than 17 years ago returned to court Monday as his defense team attempts to suppress DNA evidence gathered by the FBI. Matthew Nilo, 38, appeared in Suffolk Superior Court, where his attorneys argued that evidence collected during a covert FBI operation at a Manhattan restaurant in 2023 should be excluded from his trial.
The hearing focused on DNA evidence prosecutors say links Nilo to assaults that allegedly occurred in Boston in 2007 and 2008, when he was between 19 and 20 years old. His defense contends that FBI agents collected the DNA without a warrant, violating his rights. "The commonwealth is claiming that they have some connection between Mr. Nilo and DNA from 15 years ago, but that evidence was presumably taken from tableware in New York without a warrant and searching it for DNA," Nilo's attorney, Joseph Cataldo, stated previously. Cataldo added that the evidence was "taken without his knowledge or consent or, most importantly, without a warrant."
According to court testimony, FBI agents tracked Nilo from his New Jersey home to the Manhattan restaurant after receiving information from Boston authorities. The agents reportedly sat near him for several hours and coordinated with restaurant staff to collect items he had used, including a drinking glass, a fork, and a napkin. Prosecutors argue that once Nilo left the items behind and they were cleared by staff in the normal course of business, he relinquished any expectation of privacy regarding them.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joe Bonavolonta stated in May 2023 that Nilo's arrest was a result of the FBI's use of investigative genetic genealogy, a method to generate leads in unsolved violent crimes. Prosecutors revealed in June 2023 that a DNA profile left on three victims was matched to at least one of Nilo's relatives in a public genetic genealogy database. This DNA was later matched to a sample obtained from a drinking glass Nilo used at a corporate event in New York.
Nilo has remained free on bail throughout the legal proceedings. His fiancée, Laura Griffin, has attended his court hearings in support. He was initially charged in May 2023 with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape, and one count of indecent assault and battery. In July 2023, a Suffolk County grand jury indicted him on seven additional charges, including one count of rape, one count of aggravated rape, three counts of assault with intent to rape, and two counts of indecent assault and battery.