Juvenile Court Probation Officer Helps Boston Police Identify Suspect
in Vicious Beating of Elderly Store Clerk

Suffolk County Juvenile Court Probation Officer Robert Herman

Suffolk County Juvenile Court Probation Officer Robert Herman added literal meaning to the phrase “eyes and ears of the court” when he helped identify a suspect in the vicious beating of an elderly convenience store clerk.

Herman, a nine-year Probation Officer who works at the Juvenile Court’s Dorchester location, said the suspect came into the Probation Department to meet with his Probation Officer. As the suspect waited at the front desk, Herman glanced at him and immediately recognized him as the young man in a still, color surveillance photograph supplied by Boston Police Department Detective Paul Painten of the Area B-2 Police Precinct.

With few leads on the case, Detective Painten turned to Herman and his probation colleagues for help in identifying the person responsible for beating a 77-year-old man into a coma, a crime caught on the store’s surveillance camera.

“He (suspect) came in and signed the clipboard. As soon as he looked up, I knew it was him. He was wearing the same gray hooded sweatshirt and a Boston Red Sox hat. The facial features were a 100 percent match,” Herman recalled.

The suspect was on probation as a juvenile but had turned 17 years old, an adult by court standards, when he was arrested, according to Herman. The individual is now being held on $ 75,000 cash bail at Nashua Street Jail, he said. The elderly victim, on the other hand, is in “very bad condition,” according to Detective Painten, who worked at the Area C-11. Police Precinct when the crime was committed.

“I showed the photo around. A couple of days later, he (Herman) called me and told me he came in. We compared the (surveillance) photo and I got an arrest warrant. Who would believe that the guy would show up in the same, exact clothes,” Painten said. “He (Herman) helped us. All of the (Juvenile) Probation Officers have been helpful.”

“He is to be commended for aiding the Boston Police in the apprehension of this individual,” said Suffolk County Juvenile Court Chief Probation Officer Steven Siciliano.

Suffolk County Juvenile Court Assistant Chief Probation Officer Charlene Mook, Herman’s supervisor, added, “Thanks to his vigilance and keen eye for facial recognition—a violent offender has been captured.”