Man jumped out of a stall in a Museum of Science women's room and attacked teen, DA says

A Somerville man who was already facing breaking and entering and stolen-property charges is behind bars on charges he attacked a 15-year-old in a women's room at the Museum of Science on Oct. 6, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Yandri Hernandez, 24, is scheduled for a dangerousness hearing in Charlestown Municipal Court tomorrow at which prosecutors will ask that he be held without bail even longer as a potential danger to society, based on formal charges of kidnapping of a child, strangulation or suffocation and assault and battery, the DA's office says.

According to the DA's office, the teen entered a restroom on the museum's first level on the Boston side around 12:40 p.m., as her friend waited outside.

The victim told police that when she left the bathroom stall to wash her hands, she felt a hand come around her face and cover her month. Initially she thought it was her friend, but observed a male, later identified as Hernandez, behind her. The victim said Hernandez did not speak but tried to restrain her. The victim was able to scream and quickly run out of the bathroom. Hernandez walked out of the bathroom immediately after the victim and fled.

A witness present in the bathroom told police she noticed the first and last stalls occupied. When the witness entered her stall, she noticed black-and-white sneakers in an adjoining stall that appeared to be “abnormal in size for a female.” The witness heard one occupant exit the stall followed by the other occupant. The witness then heard muffled screaming and some sort of physical altercation. Both parties were gone when the witness exited the stall.

The DA's office continues that surveillance video shows a man - with black and white sneakers - entering the museum around 11 a.m. He then sat in the lobby near the restroom for about an hour before entering it.

State Police, who investigated the attack, sent surveillance photos of the man to local police departments, the DA's office says, adding that a Cambridge Police officer called troopers the next day to identify the man as Hernandez, based on past interactions with him, because of a distinct tattoo on his left forearm. State Police found and arrested him in Somerville the day after that, the DA's office reports.

Hernandez was arrested in Somerville last month on warrants charging him with defaulting on a court appearance for felony breaking and entering of a boat in the nighttime and possession of Class B drugs for an incident in June. Following his initial arrest in June, a Somerville District Court judge released him on personal recognizance, court records show. Records list him as homeless.

This came after Cambridge Police arrested him in April on a charge of receiving stolen property worth more than $1,200, court records show.

Innocent, etc.