Man who raped 72-year-old in Revere loses release bid

REVERE – A man who raped two women in Revere in August 1987, including a 72-year-old Texan visiting her son, was ordered Thursday to remain behind bars for what could amount to a life sentence because he remains sexually dangerous.Richard Vega, 46, also known as Ricardo Mazzarino, was convicted in 1990 of raping the women and was sentenced to 19 1/2 to 20 years in state prison. In the crime involving the older woman, Vega gained access to her son’s home by claiming he was an acquaintance, only to attack her.In the course of their investigation, Revere police learned that a man fitting Vega’s description had raped a 25-year-old woman in a blue Dodge van at the Wonderland dog racing track on Aug. 12, five days after the other sexual assault.Vega was soon apprehended and positively identified by both victims, according to Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.Vega received an additional 19?- to 20-year term, suspended for 10 years, to begin when the first prison term ended.Prior to Vega’s release from the Massachusetts Correctional Facility at Cedar Junction, prosecutors from Conley’s Sexual Assault Unit began proceedings to have him civilly committed under a state law that allows for possible lifetime detention in a secure facility.After a four-day trial that ended Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Barbara Young proved to a jury that Vega remains sexually dangerous and a threat to the public.During the proceedings, prosecutors called two state-certified psychological examiners, who testified that Vega was likely to offend again if released from prison.Jurors determined Vega is a sexually dangerous person despite having been incarcerated for nearly two decades.Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Connolly ordered Vega committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center at Bridgewater State Hospital for a term of one day to life.”Our obligation to protect the public from sexual predators doesn’t end with incarceration,” Conley said.”It continues with our use of the Sexually Dangerous Person statute. We will use every tool at our disposal to keep fiends such as this one away from any other potential victims.”Defense lawyer Edward Wayland represented Vega at trial.