Somerville Man Pleads Guilty to Unprovoked Attack on Jogger

By John Waller

A Somerville man has pleaded guilty to a variety of assault charges for his role in a 2011 attack on a jogger in Medford, the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Niall Vallega, 20, pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to the following charges: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (two counts) and assault and battery.

Sentence

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman sentenced Vallega to 2.5 years in prison on the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily charge and 2.5 more years on one of the assault and battery with a dangerous weapon charges. Vallega received five years probation for the remaining charges.

Incident

According to authorities, on March 17, 2011, the victim was walking on Salem Street in Medford, when Vallega and three other men drove by and yelled threats. Moments later, two of the perpetrators allegedly charged at the victim and threatened to beat him up.

When the victim attempted to walk away, three of the men allegedly confronted him. Without provocation, the victim was then punched in the eye, hit over the head with a glass bottle from behind and repeatedly attacked by Vallega and two others, according to authorities. 

The fourth man then brandished a knife and stabbed the victim in the side, authorities said. At this time, nearby store employees heard the victim yelling for help and called police, while the defendants fled.

The victim suffered serious injuries, including a collapsed lung, according to authorities.

Police identified the suspects through a GPS location device worn by one of the men, cell phone records and witness accounts, according to the DA’s office. Vallega was arrested in June 2012.