By George P. Hassett

A man accused of five attacks on women in the area surrounding Tufts University was arraigned in Somerville District Court Monday.
  Nicolas R. Chacon, 19, of 268C Powderhouse Boulevard, admitted to sexually assaulting two women in separate incidents April 20 and 26 and also confessed to three to five recent indecent assaults in the Medford and Somerville area, police said.

  A rash of attacks on women in the area began March 31, when a Tufts student was forced to the ground and then assaulted on Curtis Street by a man who pretended to need directions. In the next four weeks, five more assaults on women were reported including one rape.
  In an April 30 story in the Tufts Daily Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman was quoted as saying there was widespread concern on the Tufts campus.
  ‚ÄúIt’s crazy – especially because it’s right on top of Virginia Tech,‚Äù he was quoted as saying in the article. ‚ÄúIt’s hard to feel secure.‚Äù
  In response to the attacks, Somerville, Medford and Tufts University police combined forces to try and catch the assailant. On Friday they said they accomplished their mission when Chacon was placed under arrest for crimes against five women between April 12 and 26. The charges Chacon faces include aggravated rape, assault with intent to rape, assault and battery with dangerous weapon, kidnapping and five counts of indecent assault and battery.
  On Thursday, April 26 at approximately 5:45 a.m., a female was grabbed from behind while she was waiting for a bus on Boston Ave., police said. The woman felt a hard object pressed against her side and was groped before the suspect was scared off by an oncoming car and fled on foot, police said.
  In the April 20 incident, Chacon allegedly approached a woman walking on Winthrop Street from behind, put a knife to her throat and told her to keep walking. He forced the woman down a side street and onto her knees, threatening to cut her and then  sexually assaulted the woman, police said. Chacon then allegedly forced the woman into the passenger‚Äôs seat of his red van and sexually assaulted her again before pushing her out of the vehicle, police said.
  The surveillance video camera at the nearby Neighborhood Convenience store showed Chacon initially walking behind the victim on Winthrop Street and then walking next to the victim, possibly holding her, as he walked back up Winthrop Street toward Boston Ave., police said. Still images from the video surveillance were given to the local media and shown on area television stations, with a request for anyone with information to contact the Medford Police Department.
On April 24, Medford investigators received a phone call from a woman who said she had seen a person she believed to be the suspect shown in the media at the intersection of Walking Court and North Street in Medford. The man, she allegedly told police, left the area in a red, four door van with a license plate of 96FC89. Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles records showed the plate is currently assigned to Chacon.
On May 2, another woman identified Chacon as the man behind the recent spate of attacks. The woman was in her kitchen looking out the window towards the North Street bridge when she saw a man, who she described as a Hispanic man in his twenties, stocky and 5 foot 5 inches or taller, drive away in a red van. She told police she had just been reading a newspaper article about the recent attacks and looked at a photo of the suspect and thought the man driving away in the red van looked like the man from the article. The woman made note of the license plate and contacted police. She allegedly told police the license plate read 96FC89, the plate belonging to Chacon.
On Saturday, April 21, a female victim was approached from behind on North Street and grabbed by Chacon who then fled, according to prosecutors. Chacon is also charged in two April 12 indecent assault and batteries on Broadway in Somerville that occurred 15 minutes apart.
On Friday, police followed Chacon to his work and asked him to come with them to the Medford Police Department to speak with officers investigating the recent rash of assaults on women in the area. Chacon agreed and at the station, confessed to sexually assaulting women on April 20 and 26 and to committing indecent assaults on women in Somerville on April 12 and 21.   
Middlesex County District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. said witnesses who contacted police helped make Chacon’s arrest possible.
“It’s important to thank the public for the tremendous amount of cooperation we received during this investigation – their help and assistance was a significant factor in our ability to make this arrest.”

Chacon, who had no prior criminal record, was arraigned from behind a wall Monday and held without bail until a May 15 hearing to determine how dangerous he is.  Ten of Chacon‚Äôs friends and family showed up at the arraignment but declined to comment to reporters.