Former prosecutor and ‘top bachelor’ Gary Zerola found guilty of rape

Gary Zerola was found guilty of rape on Wednesday. The allegations date back to January 2021. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald)

Gary Zerola, a former prosecutor and People magazine’s top bachelor, was found guilty by a Suffolk Superior Court jury in a 2021 rape trial after dodging another rape charge a year ago, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced Wednesday.

Zerola, 52, was found guilty of one count of rape on Wednesday after a jury deliberated for five hours. The jury found him not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated rape and burglary.

In January 2021, prosecutors said, Zerola went out drinking with a woman he was dating and one of her friends, a 21-year-old. After the friend became intoxicated, she had to be taken back to her Beacon Hill apartment.

Later that night, the defendant entered the apartment and began having sexual intercourse with the girlfriend while she was sleeping.

Zerola was previously acquitted in June 2023 of charges of raping a 23-year-old woman in 2016.