COUNTRY GAZETTE

Man held on $25,000 bail for March assault

Arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court after indictment

Zachary Comeau/Daily News Staff

DEDHAM - A Millis man was held on $25,000 bail at his arraignment in Norfolk Superior Court for his role in a brutal March beating that sent another Millis man to the hospital.

Upon release, Ephraim Hunter, 20, of Millis, was also ordered by Judge Douglas Wilkins to submit to GPS monitoring, stay out of the Town of Canton and stay way from and have no contact with the co-defendants.

He is being charged with armed robbery, armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, two counts of assault and batter with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault and battery.

Hunter was charged in March with three other co-defendants in the beating that sent a Millis man to the hospital via medical helicopter.

Xavier Frederick, 24, of 66 Summer Ave., Stoughton, and Leonard Ward, 24, of 35 Wheeler Circle, Stoughton, were also charged with the same.

Frederick, currently in custody, was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday but was not transported to court. His arraignment was continued to May 27.

Ward, currently not in custody, will be arraigned Wednesday.

Devin Connolly, 24, of 92 Mechanic St., Canton, the alleged driver of the van that police found the three males, blood and the victim’s shoe on March 3, was indicted on a charge of accessory after the fact.

Her arraignment date is not yet scheduled.

According to prosecutors, a caller reported to police around 1 a.m. on March 3 that her friend was being beaten with a crowbar by three males at an apartment complex on Stoneybrook Drive.

A witness said she heard one of the men yell, “Stab him! Stab him!” prosecutors allege.

When police arrived, the caller reported the suspects had fled in a minivan driven by a blonde female who police later identified as Connolly, prosecutors said.

After police had pulled the suspects' vehicle over, the caller approached officers with the badly-beaten man in the rear of her vehicle, prosecutors said.

When officers first saw the victim, he was unconscious, with no pants on and with blood on his head and left leg. The man was taken via medical helicopter to a Boston hospital, police said.

The victim's injuries are not expected to be life-threatening, prosecutors said.

Inside the suspects' vehicle, officers found a hammer, beer bottles, a bag of marijuana, a sneaker belonging to the victim and blood stains throughout the vehicle, prosecutors said.

At the scene of the alleged incident, officers found signs of a struggle, including blood stains and a sneaker that matched the one found in the van, prosecutors said.

During Ward’s booking, he agreed to remove a “bag of marijuana from his buttocks,” police said.

During Hunter’s booking, police found $583 in his underwear and a small baggie containing “a brown powdery substance resembling heroin,” police said.

Zachary Comeau can be reached at 508-634-7556 and zcomeau@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ZComeau_MDN.