Lawyer of ‘most eligible bachelor’ convicted of rape

Former prosecutor Gary Zerola appears in a Boston courtroom in July 2024 after being found guilty of raping a 21-year-old woman several years ago (YouTube/WCVB).

Former Boston prosecutor Gary Zerola, once named one of the country’s most eligible bachelors by People magazine, was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for raping a 21-year-old woman in early 2021.

A jury took just hours to convict Zerola in June after prosecutors presented evidence of the sexual assault, which occurred in January 2021 after Zerola spent a lot of money on alcohol for a night out with his then-girlfriend and her boyfriend. After dropping the girlfriend off at her home, he returned in the early hours of the morning to rape her in her sleep.

According to a courtroom report by Boston CBS affiliate WBZ, a prosecutor read a statement from the woman who attacked Perola, who had chosen not to attend the well-attended sentencing hearing.

“I suffer from extreme paranoia. Every time I am in my apartment, the door is locked and I live in constant fear that someone will come in without my permission and hurt me again,” the victim’s statement said.

According to the Associated Press, prosecutors said Zerola, now 52, spent $2,000 on alcohol for himself and the women on the night of the attack.

Zerola served as an assistant district attorney in Essex County, Massachusetts for a year and later worked in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for eight weeks in 2000.

He was repeatedly accused of rape.

According to MassLive.com, he was charged and acquitted of rape in Suffolk County in 2023. He was charged with sexual assault and rape in three separate cases between 2006 and 2016. He was acquitted on all counts, including the 2016 incident, which also involved the alleged rape of a then-girlfriend’s co-worker. That victim was also asleep during the attack. She had fallen asleep on a couch after a party.

The five to ten years in prison were longer than what Perola’s defense had demanded – they had asked for two to three years, WBZ reported. It was also well under the maximum sentence of 20 years that the prosecution had demanded.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden spoke at a press conference after the verdict and praised the victim for coming forward.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum also said prosecutors were “pleased that the jury confirmed what happened to the survivor in this case.”

As the local newspaper reported, many friends and family members of Zerola’s other alleged victims were present in the packed courtroom.

Viewers Shawna Carroll and Erica Barnes told WBZ that they welcomed the ruling, but would have liked it to last longer.

However, since it was Perola’s first conviction, the women said they understood the judge’s decision and called it “fair.”

Zerola’s lawyers have said they will appeal. In that case, Zerola faced three charges, including rape. He was acquitted of one count of aggravated rape and one count of burglary. He was ordered to remain in custody pending sentencing.

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