Lynn boys, 11, 14 charged in beating

LYNN – A juvenile court judge ordered two boys, ages 11 and 14, held without bail until a dangerousness hearing Friday on charges they beat a homeless man who had fallen asleep or passed out in a wooded area last Wednesday.The boys, both Lynn residents, pleaded not delinquent on Monday in juvenile court to charges of armed assault with intent to murder, aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to maim using a dangerous weapon with injury and a civil rights violation causing serious bodily injury.The older teen was arrested Saturday night and charges brought against him indicated he used a rock, sticks and a bottle to beat the 30-year-old Lynn man. The man, identified initially from police transmissions as Abraham Pojoy, remains in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.”The investigation is active and ongoing,” Police Lt. William Sharpe said Monday.According to one witness, the man was struck in the head by bricks or sticks by several individuals shortly before 3 p.m. last Wednesday as he slept in a wooded area along the commuter rail tracks and bordering Robert McManus Field off of Neptune Boulevard.In the aftermath of the attack, police searched the nearby Marian Gardens housing complex and a stretch of Western Avenue for up to 15 teenagers witnesses said were involved in the attack.Pojoy, according to police records, has lived at several Lynn addresses over the last several years and has numerous arrests for public drinking.The city street advocate said last week’s attack is the third in a month on homeless individuals. A homeless man told Advocate Patrick Byrne he was attacked by several people around June 24. Police said Jay LaReaue has not reported the attack.A homeless man and woman sleeping in a large concrete pipe culvert were burned when someone threw a bottle filled with a flammable liquid into the pipe. Arson investigators have questioned someone who knows the couple in connection with the attack.”There have been some pretty violent acts against the homeless,” Byrne said.Byrne and Fire Lt. David Legere said homeless individuals take advantage of the warm weather to sleep outdoors in wooded areas along the tracks or off the Lynnway. Lynn Woods Ranger Dan Small said he asks for police assistance once or twice a year to evict homeless individuals before their camps become a source of public drinking, trash and a fire hazard.