Rapist gave victim his number, officials say

Alleged rapist Michael Mahoney is being held without bail after a Somerville court deemed him potentially hazardous to society at a dangerousness hearing on July 11. But if law enforcement officials are correct, Mahoney's mixed-up judgment might pose as much of a threat to himself as his aggression does to women.

According to officials, the victim of a July 6 rape near Tufts convinced Mahoney, her alleged attacker, to give her his phone number, which the police used to hunt him down the next day, the Boston Herald reports.

Spokesperson Jessica Venezia of Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone's office declined to comment on the Herald's report, citing legal restrictions. "There's a motion to impound all of the clerk's files," she told the Daily. "It's not public information, which is usually the case in sexual assault trials, so I unfortunately can't confirm that."

Mahoney has been charged with three counts of aggravated rape and kidnapping, the Herald reports. The rape in question occurred near the intersection of College Avenue and Dearborn Road, just steps from many students' houses.

Somerville Police Captain Paul Upton noted in an interview with the Daily last week that a separate assault, which occurred by Powder House Circle on June 28, possessed "distinct similarities" to the July 6 rape. "They were close in time - they were only eight days apart - they occurred at approximately the same time of day, they occurred in the same vicinity and there are similarities in the suspects' descriptions," Upton said.

He would not confirm that the Somerville Police considered Mahoney a suspect in the June 28 incident, but he said charges in that case were forthcoming.