Zerola busted in Miami

LYNN-Lynn native and well-known Boston area attorney Gary Zerola is now in trouble with the law in two states after he allegedly drugged and raped an 18-year-old Florida student in Miami this weekend.Zerola, 36, who is a former Essex and Suffolk County prosecutor, was already on probation in Massachusetts stemming from sexual assault charges in 2004 and 2006 where it was alleged that he raped two separate 19-year-old victims at his apartment in Boston’s North End.Police say that Zerola left the state without permission last weekend to see the Patriots play the Miami Dolphins, but the alleged incident took place before the attorney ever had a chance to set foot in a football stadium.According to police reports, Zerola met the 18-yearnold victim, a student at Florida International University, while at a Miami Beach club late Thursday night into Friday morning. Despite the victim’s age, and the fact that he had arrived at the club with another woman, Zerola allegedly purchased several drinks for the victim and persuaded her to return to his hotel room with him.Security cameras at the Catalina Hotel recorded Zerola and two women entering the hotel just after 3 a.m. Friday, but the victim alleges that Zerola’s original date became upset that she came back with the couple, and stormed out of the hotel.That is when the victim alleges that Zerola held her down, forced her to take a handful of pills and took advantage of her.Zerola told police that he did not have sex with the teen, who said she passed out and woke up Friday afternoon naked and bleeding in bed next to him. Despite his claim of innocence, the attorney refused to submit to a DNA test.Police said they believed the drug he gave the woman may have been ecstasy, and indicated that Zerola also tested positive for having drugs and alcohol in his system at the time of his arrest.Zerola posted $1,000 cash bail and was allowed to return to Boston, where he faced a judge Monday to learn his fate for violating his probation. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol revoked his $5,000 bail stemming from the previous two incidents and ordered that he be locked up until a trial in Boston on Nov. 28.Zerola did not seek permission to leave the state at any point, and under the terms of his probation he is only allowed to leave Massachusetts if he is looking for a job in another state.The state of Florida has 21 days to arraign Zerola on the sexual assault charge stemming from Friday’s incident.Zerola resigned as a Suffolk County Prosecutor in 2000 to open his own private practice, where he worked on several high profile cases in the area, including representing Lynn’s Blake Colella when he was acquitted of rape charges in December 2005.He also represented former Classical High School hall monitor Harry Prunier, who was acquitted on indecent assault and battery charges stemming from accusations that he forced himself on a student in March 2005.Zerola was named People Magazine’s Most Eligible Bachelor in 2003.