Crime Briefs: Accused child rapist kills victim in murder-suicide, DA says
Authorities say a 49-year-old Acton man indicted for repeatedly raping his 16-year-old step-daughter shot both her and himself to death.
Acton Police received a call at around 4 p.m. Thursday reporting that Juliano Santana had abducted his step-daughter. Officers contacted Santana’s probation officer who was able to locate him by the GPS monitor he had to wear due to his pending child sexual assault case, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.
The location took police to a parking lot on Great Road near the victim’s residence and a horrific discovery: both Santana and his victim “dead from apparent gunshot wounds” inside his car.
“The subsequent investigation suggests that Santana abducted the victim as she was walking on Great Road near her residence after school and later shot her and then himself,” the Middlesex DA’s office wrote in a statement.
Santana had allegedly been raping the girl at least as far back as Sept. 7, 2021, when the girl first reported the abuse. He was arrested the same day and charged with six counts of aggravated rape of a child. The victim had an active restraining order against Santana, according to the DA’s office. Santana’s trial was scheduled for the end of July.
Fitchburg cold case murder suspect arraigned
The second of two men indicted in March for the shooting murder of 15-year-old Deondray Atwood in Fitchburg in 1993 has appeared in court to face his charges.
Robert D’Lucca, 49, appeared in Worcester Superior Court Friday to be formally arraigned on the charge of murder. His arraignment follows that of co-defendant Lawrence Calafell, 51, who was in court shortly after the indictments were presented by the grand jury.
Both men also face charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition without an FID card.
Prosecutors say that D’Lucca and Calafell on Nov. 25, 1993, shot up a car parked on Dennis Street in Fitchburg, hitting two of the three occupants in the vehicle, according to the Worcester DA’s office. Atwood was shot multiple times and died. A second, unnamed passenger was also shot multiple times but survived. The third occupant was not injured.
Boston Police search for suspects
The Boston PD has issued calls to the public to help them solve two unrelated crimes that took place roughly an hour apart on May 24: a man suspected of slashing tires in Dorchester and a woman suspected of assaulting someone with pepper spray.
At around 5 a.m., officers say, an unknown woman — a black female with blonde hair who appears in submitted photos to be wearing a tight-fitting lilac athletic garment — pepper sprayed someone along with another suspect who may be known as “Brooke” and then stole the victim’s car keys. This happened in the 100-block of Seaver Street in Roxbury.
At around 5 p.m. the same day, police say, a man took out a knife and slashed the rear driver-side tire of his victim’s car in the area of Columbia Road and Geneva Avenue in Dorchester. Police describe their suspect as a “Dominican male, 20-30 years old, long dreadlocks,” and who was wearing a tan shirt at the time. They say he’s known to hang around Columbia Road between Devon and Stanwood streets.
Police ask that anyone with any information on either incident call detectives at (617) 343-4275. Anonymous tips can be shared to the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1-800-494-TIPS (8477) or by texting the word “TIP” to CRIME (27463).
Dorchester’s ‘unprovoked’ puncher
Authorities have charged Damond Brown, 52, a man prosecutors say has a 12-page probation record dating back 35 years, for the “unprovoked” punching of a 65-year-old man during a mugging in Dorchester.
Brown, who was convicted of armed assault to murder in 2019, appeared in Boston Municipal Court to be arraigned on a single count of unarmed robbery on a person over 60. Judge Steven Key found Brown dangerous and ordered him held without bail ahead of his June 17 probable cause hearing.
Police responded a little before 5 a.m. on April 20 to the area of Harrison and Massachusetts avenues where the victim, who they say was lying next to a pool of blood and had suffered a laceration to his head, told them that he was walking when the man — who authorities say is Brown — “randomly punched him with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground.” He said he “blacked out” and woke up on the ground.
Surveillance footage shows Brown and an unidentified second suspect then rummage through the man’s pockets as he lay “motionless” on the ground.
Market manipulation is not a pretty picture
A Mashpee man who runs an investment company released a false press release to artificially inflate the trading price of wire images service Getty and then dumping his holdings to rake up the illegal profits.
Robert Scott Murray, 60, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of securities fraud, the feds say, and will appear in federal court in Boston later. The charge carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $5 million.
Seattle-based Getty Image Holdings, Inc., which sells images, videos and music for use by a wide variety of media clients, is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GETY. The feds say Murray — a long-time investor who has served as the CEO of a variety of public companies — owned about 300,000 GETY shares and wanted to be a part of the company’s board of directors. He failed in that pursuit.
The feds say that Murray — the sole owner and manager of Massachusetts-based Trillium Capital LLC — then undertook a scheme to artificially inflate the company’s stock price so he could then unload all of his shares at a huge profit.
Part of this scheme was sending out a press release between market hours on April 24, 2023, stating that his firm was acquiring Getty at $10 per share, nearly double the $5.06 share value at the previous market day’s close. The release rocketed the share value to $7.88 at Monday’s market opening. The feds say that Murray then sold off all of his shares within the hour, netting nearly $1.5 million.