Still facing a 2016 rape charge, a former prosecutor is charged with a new rape

Gary Zerola, whom People once named one of the most eligible bachelors in the country, turned himself in today to face charges that he broke into the apartment of a woman he'd met a few hours earlier and raped her early Tuesday, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Zerola, 49, of Salem, who briefly served as an assistant district attorney in Essex and Suffolk counties before People put him on its list, was ordered held without bail at the request of the DA's office, at least until a dangerousness hearing in Boston Municipal Court next Thursday. He had been out on $10,000 bail for the 2016 charge, which has yet to come to trial. He has been found not guilty on previous rape charges.

According to the DA's office:

In the new case, [assistant DA Ian] Polumbaum told the court that the victim had met Mr. Zerola at a gathering on January 11, 2021, after which he and a mutual acquaintance accompanied the victim to her apartment. In the early morning hours of January 12, 2021, Mr. Zerola allegedly entered the victim’s residence without her permission and she awoke to find him sexually assaulting her.

Boston police obtained a warrant for Mr. Zerola’s arrest on Tuesday, and he surrendered to police earlier today.

As required by law, the location of the rape was not disclosed. Boston Municipal Court handles cases from downtown, the North End, Chinatown, Beacon Hill, the West End and the South End.

Innocent, etc.