For Immediate Release July 22, 2008                                  
Contact: Corey Welford/Jessica Venezia 781-897-8325

Former Maynard Firefighter Pleads Guilty To Sexual Assault Of Family Friend
Second Guilty Plea For Sexual Assault Within Past Four Months

WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public today that Anthony “Toby” Tyler, 46, of Maynard, has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a family friend.

Tyler, a former Maynard firefighter, pleaded guilty today in Woburn Superior Court to a charge of indecent assault and battery on a person fourteen years or older. Middlesex Superior Court Judge Jane Haggerty sentenced Tyler to three years to three years and a day in State Prison. Tyler will serve that sentence following the completion of his current three year State Prison term for a sexual assault conviction against another victim. He pleaded guilty to those charges on March 21.

“Anthony Tyler violated the innate trust of a close family friend to commit this disturbing act,” District Attorney Leone said. “He has now been convicted in two separate cases and will serve a total of six years in State Prison for those crimes. He also will remain a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life. I want to thank the victim in this case for bravely coming forward and explaining to us what had happened to him so that we could move forward and prosecute this case.”

Tyler was a close family friend of the victim and would frequently visit his home in Maynard. During the recitation of facts, the Commonwealth informed the court that at trial it would have sought to introduce evidence relative to prior bad conduct. That conduct included that Tyler began to inappropriately touch the victim when he was a child.  These assaults soon escalated, and continued throughout elementary school and high school, up to when the victim was approximately 25 years old. The indecent assault and battery that Tyler pleaded guilty to occured in 2002 when the victim was 31 years old.

Tyler was indicted by a Middlesex Grand Jury on January 25, 2007 on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. He was arraigned on those charges on  February 6, 2007, in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge before Judge Isaac Borenstein.  Tyler was released on his own recognizance by Judge Borenstein and ordered to stay away and have no contact with the victim or his family. 

Tyler was previously indicted by a Middlesex Grand Jury on October 24, 2006, in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of a boy that occurred when the victim was between the ages of 14 and 17-years-old. Tyler was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over.

On March 21, 2008, Tyler pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. Tyler was sentenced by Middlesex Superior Court Judge Wendie Gershengorn to three years to three years and one day in State Prison followed by five years probation with conditions.

The prosecutor in this case was Beth Merachnik. The victim witness advocate was Kara Grant.

###