Lawyer in custody after being accused of 3d sex assault
A Middlesex County judge has revoked bail for a former criminal defense lawyer facing sexual assault charges after he was accused of attacking a third woman while in Miami Beach.
Gary Zerola, 36, was arrested Friday, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a college student, according to The Miami Herald and Middlesex officials.
"In light of the fact that he was arrested for similar charges, we sought, and a judge agreed, to have his bail revoked," said Corey Welford, spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney. "He is in custody now" in Massachusetts, he said.
Miami Beach police did not return calls for comment yesterday, but they told The Miami Herald that Zerola was at a popular South Beach club Friday with a female acquaintance. The pair met a local student and had drinks together, returning to a hotel just after 3 a.m.
The female friend then became upset that Zerola brought another woman with them and checked into another room.
The Miami Herald reported the police report said that Zerola, who is known in Boston for his work on behalf of foster children, attacked the student, holding her face with his hand and forcing her "to take an unknown amount of pills with an unknown liquid."
The alleged victim later awoke next to Zerola and called police on her cellphone, the police report said.
When officers arrived, they said, she was emotional and distraught. Zerola told police: "I never had sex with her."
Monday, a special Suffolk County assistant district attorney filed a motion to have Zerola's bail revoked, saying "there is clear evidence that the defendant violated the conditions of his release."
The Massachusetts charges are being handled by the Middlesex district attorney because Zerola had worked for the Suffolk district attorney's office until 2000.
A grand jury indicted Zerola last year in two separate sexual assaults in Boston. He was charged with rape, indecent assault and battery, and procuring alcohol for a minor in a Feb. 28, 2004, episode involving a 19-year-old acquaintance.
He was also charged with assault with intent to rape, kidnapping, indecent assault and battery, intimidation of a witness, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and procuring alcohol for a minor, in an Aug. 18, 2006 episode in which he allegedly assaulted a different 19-year-old acquaintance, slamming her head into a wall and refusing to let her leave his apartment.
He was released in Sept. 2006 after posting $25,000 bail. His trial is set to start Nov. 28.
Janice Bassil, the lawyer who represented Zerola in December 2006, could not be reached for comment.
The youngest of seven children, Zerola was placed in foster care at age 3 and bounced around more than a dozen homes until he was 14. That prompted him to start One for the Kids, a volunteer group that raises money to give foster children holiday gifts.
"I'd like to help kids who are starting down the wrong path," Zerola told the Globe in 1999. "If they are doing stupid things, it's just they haven't learned there are severe consequences."
He was named one of People Magazine's "Most Eligible Bachelors" in 2001. Globe correspondent Elizabeth Ratto contributed to this report. 