Swampscott man arraigned on sexual assault charge

LYNN – A judge ordered a Swampscott man charged with sexually assaulting a fellow member of a therapy group released to the care of his attorney, who said she once took a restraining order out against the defendant and is also the defendant’s mother.”He is not a flight risk, he has no access to any money ? the restraining order was his father and I am trying to use tough love to get him where he is (in treatment),” Attorney Dori Gray Rifkin said in Lynn District Court Thursday.Dune Rifkin, 31, of 57 Puritan Road, Swampscott, was charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, three counts.He was arraigned in Lynn District Court Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to the charges.Police responded to Eliot Community Human Services last Tuesday where a woman told police Rifkin had grabbed her buttocks the day before while she and other members of the group were outside after therapy.”(The alleged victim) states that she looked at (the defendant) and stated ?you touch me again, I’ll shove your nasal cartilage into your cerebral tissue,” Lynn Police Officer Thomas Morley wrote in a report.The alleged victim told police it was the third time the defendant had grabbed her buttocks; and the previous times he had allegedly also told her ?I’d like to (expletive) you,'” police reported. The alleged victim said she told the defendant to get away from her and he left without a word after each incident.Three witnesses to the Aug. 13 alleged assault concurred with the alleged victim’s account, Assistant District Attorney Mark Byron said in court Thursday. He requested $25,000 cash bail, citing the repeated alleged behavior and Rifkin’s record which included committed time.But Dori Rifkin – who told the court she was the defendant’s mother and a public defender – said her son disputed the charges and “there are witnesses on the other side as well.”Moreover, she told the court the defendant had no access to money and was living as a guest in the family home while he attended an alcohol treatment program. She also said her client was no longer attending the group therapy program where the alleged incident occurred, and would agree to stay away and have no contact with the alleged victim. She requested Dune Rifkin be released on personal recognizance.In response to Judge James LaMothe’s question, she said the family received the court summons in the mail that morning and “were in court within a half hour.”LaMothe ordered Dune Rifkin released on personal recognizance and scheduled him to return to court Sept. 23.