$15,000 bail for woman charged with attacking 13-year-old at MBTA station

BOSTON, March 13, 2023 —A Mattapan woman who attacked and wounded a 13-year-old boy at a South Boston MBTA station last week is being held in lieu of $15,000 bail, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

MONICA VELEZ-CARABALLO, 35, was charged in South Boston BMC Thursday with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and disorderly conduct on a public conveyance.  Judge Richard Sinnott ordered Velez-Caraballo held in lieu of $15,000 bail and ordered her to stay away from Andrew Station and the victim.  Sinnott also revoked Velez-Caraballo’s bail on an existing assault case out of Roxbury. Velez-Caraballo will return to court April 6 for a pre-trial hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Kelly Ryan said that at about 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 9, MBTA police responded to a call at Andrew Station for a juvenile who had been attacked and suffered a laceration to his face.  The juvenile told police he was waiting for a bus with some friends and a woman he did not know was walking around the bus stop yelling obscenities.  Without provocation, the woman walked up to the boy and hit him in the face with a soda can that had jagged edges.

 A few minutes after police arrived, the victim spotted his attacker, later identified as Velez-Caraballo.  After being arrested, Velez-Caraballo told police “They started it.  They threw a chemical on my skin and it’s burning me.”  Officers observed Velez-Caraballo to be suffering from no obvious skin redness or irritation consistent with a chemical burn.  Officers recovered a ginger ale soda can with jagged lower edges from the busway.

Boston EMS responders transported the victim to a hospital for treatment of his facial laceration.

“This is an extremely frightening experience for a 13-year-old, or anyone else, who is doing nothing more than waiting at a bus stop with the appropriate expectation of safety and security.  I’m grateful for his alertness in pointing out his attacker to police.  These are the types of incidents that degrade our community and we take them very seriously,” Hayden said. 

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications