Somerville High Soccer Player Pleads Not Guilty to Sexual Assault Charges

– Allison Goldsberry

A seventeen-year-old member of the Somerville High School boys soccer team pleaded not guilty today to sexual assault charges, according to information released by Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless.

Galileo Mondol was arraigned Tuesday morning in Central Berkshite District Court in Pittsfield, MA on several charges. He pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated rape of a child under sixteen, two counts of assault with intent to rape a child under sixteen, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person who has attained fourteen years of age, three counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and three counts of intimidation of a witness or other person.

According to DA Capeless, Mondol is being held at Berkshire County House of Correction on $100,000 cash or $1,000,000 surety bail. He will be back in court on Friday for a dangerousness hearing.

The two juveniles were also expected to be arraigned on similar charges.

Mondol and two 16-year-old juvenile males were arrested Friday on charges that include aggravated rape and assault with intent to rape in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred at the school’s annual sports camp in Western Massachusetts.

Authorities say the incident allegedly took place at Camp Otis in Lenox, which had been rented by Somerville for team-building activities for its fall sports teams. The three JV soccer players are accused of entering a cabin with freshmen students and assaulting three victims on Sunday, August 25.

Somerville’s mayor, school superintendent, and high school principal publicly condemned the incident, which they called “single and isolated,” and said support services are in place “for all those in need of such services.”