# After years on run, Comerford returns to court



## Nachtwächter (Dec 9, 2005)

Feb 13, 2006

*After years on run, Comerford returns to court*

* By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]
*

* 
WORCESTER- * A rape and kidnapping suspect who jumped bail more than 16 years ago was ordered held without bail today.

Donald J. Comerford, 39, formerly of Dudley, was back in Worcester Superior Court, where he is facing aggravated rape, indecent assault and battery, assault and kidnapping charges stemming from a series of sexual assaults he allegedly committed in 1988.

Mr. Comerford was returned to Massachusetts after being arrested Nov. 8 in Texas, where he was stopped for a motor vehicle violation.

He had been at large since Sept. 7, 1989, when he failed to make a scheduled appearance in Worcester Superior Court on the sexual assault charges against him. The $60,000 cash bail posted by his father, James Comerford, was later forfeited to the state.

Assistant District Attorney Thomas E. Landry asked Judge Francis R. Fecteau yesterday to hold Mr. Comerford without bail. In support of his request, the prosecutor cited the seriousness of the allegations against Mr. Comerford and his flight from Massachusetts more than 16 years ago.

Lawyer Jennifer Sellitti asked that Mr. Comerford's bail status be set without prejudice, clearing the way for another bail hearing in the future. Ms. Sellitti, who was standing in for Mr. Comerford's appointed lawyer, Michael S. Hussey, predicted that Mr. Hussey would want an opportunity to address the court before a final bail determination was made in the case.

Judge Fecteau ordered that Mr. Comerford be held without bail pending a bail hearing at Mr. Hussey's request.

Mr. Comerford is charged with crimes that allegedly occurred over a period of several months in 1988 in Spencer, Leicester, Millbury and Worcester. He was arrested on Coolidge Road in Worcester on Oct. 18, 1988, after three attacks were reported that morning in the area.


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