Police warn of increase in assaults and robberies in the Fens

Boston Police have put out a safety advisory to bars, apartments and hotels in the Fenway area to alert residents and visitors about a series of robberies and assaults that have taken place in the area in the last couple of months.

Though police do not have evidence that the incidents are linked, one victim was targeted by a group of men he met at Machine, a gay nightspot on Boylston Street, traveled with him to the Back Bay Fens, a popular cruising spot, and then assaulted and robbed him. Four other incidents involved male victims who were assaulted by strangers they met either in or near the Fenway.

"Any time you meet somebody for the first time you really don't know, you place yourself in a vulnerable position," said Sgt. Kevin Power of the District D-4 Community Service Office. "So that's what our advisory was put out there to warn people, there has been an increase in robberies and people have to be vigilant of their surroundings, and people have been targeted meeting in bars."

The first incident took place April 17. According to the incident report the 26-year-old victim met up with two men, a 41-year-old white Milton resident named Brian McFadden who was eventually apprehended by police and a second white male, at an unknown bar and agreed to go with the men to the Fens. On the way there the victim became nervous about the intentions of his companions and ducked into the Howard Johnson Hotel on Boylston Street to call the police. McFadden and his accomplice followed him, and as police arrived they witnessed McFadden punch the victim in the face inside the hotel. The report says that McFadden and the other assailant were "very agitated" that the victim was unwilling to pay for a hotel room, and after the victim called the police the second assailant fled the scene. McFadden was arrested and charged with assault and battery, but police were unable to find the second suspect, who was described by the victim as a bald white non-Hispanic male wearing a grey sweatshirt. The victim had a minor injury above his eye, but he declined medical attention.

Two days later, on April 19, an 18-year-old man was walking down Kilmarnock Street with a companion when they were approached by three men who asked them for directions to the Fens. The victim later told the police one of the men was white, and the other two were black. The 18-year-old began to give them directions, but as he did so the three strangers pushed him up against a car and punched him in the face several times. He ran to a nearby emergency call box and called the police, and the assailants threatened to shoot him, although they did not show him a gun. The assailants stole the man's cell phone and ran down Kilmarnock Street toward Park Drive. Police found two men matching the victim's description of the assailants at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Kilmarnock, but the victim could not positively identify the men as his attackers. The suspects claimed they had been coming from the nearby movie theater. They were later released.

Later that month, on April 23, another victim, a 45-year-old man, met three men at Machine and agreed to go with them to the Fens. After they arrived the men began punching the victim in the face, then stole his wallet, which contained about $50 cash, and his cell phone, and fled toward Massachusetts Avenue. The incident report contains few details about the assailants, other than that one was white and the other two were black. The victim had facial injuries that were treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Police were unable to find the suspects after searching the area.

The fourth incident took place May 10. The victim, a 47-year-old man, met up with a stranger and agreed to go with him into the Fens. When they reached the park the stranger, a white man with red hair who the victim said was about 5' 8" and 160 pounds, pulled out a knife, stole $250 from the victim and ran away towards Brookline Avenue. Police were unable to apprehend the suspect, but they recovered a silver key with a Subaru logo inscribed on it that the victim told police fell out of the attacker's pocket.

On May 18 police responded to a call from a 65-year-old man who reported that he had been mugged in the Fens. He told police he had been talking with one man when the man turned violent and attacked him. A second attacker appeared, and the two men stole the victim's wallet and fled on foot toward Clemente Park. Police were unable to locate the assailants, who the victim described as two black men in their mid-20s.

Power said all five crimes are under investigation by the Boston Police. He said there are periodic increases in robberies around the Fenway area, but he said it is unclear whether these latest crimes are connected or whether the increase in robberies and assaults is a coincidence. He said police have reached out to bar owners in the neighborhood and posted advisories in bars and in the lobbies of local apartments.

Power urged people in the Fenway who are either victims of assault or who are threatened to call the police on one of the four emergency phones installed in the park.
Kelcie Cooke, coordinator of Fenway Health's Violence Recovery Program (VRP), said her program has not received a noticeable increase in reports by victims of pick-up crimes in the Fenway area. But such an increase often happens as the weather gets warmer, she said, and perpetrators target men in cruising areas or gay bars because they see them as less likely to call the police for help.

"One is that any oppressed group, and especially the GLBT community going back to Stonewall, has not always had the most trusting relationship with the police, so I think there is still hesitancy to reach out because of homophobia or not being believed or being re-traumatized in some way. And I think perpetrators are very savvy about that and seek out communities that are less likely to report them and are easier targets," said Cooke. She said men may also be hesitant to call the police because they are closeted or because they are cheating on a significant other. Cooke said victims who are uncomfortable calling the police could contact the VRP, which would report the incident to Boston Police but keep the victim's identity confidential. (The VRP can be reached by phone at 800.834.3242, or in Spanish at 617.927.6322.)

Cooke said the VRP is working with the District D-4 police station, which covers the Fenway neighborhood, and the Boston Police Community Disorders Unit, which investigates hate crimes, to set up a meeting to discuss LGBT community safety issues heading into the summer months and Pride season.

"Our collaboration with the police has gotten stronger and stronger, and I'm feeling really positively about our relationship with D4 and the Community Disorders unit, that people will be treated fairly," said Cooke.