Seabrook restaurant manager charged with raping employee

Dave Rogers, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·2 min read

Nov. 9—NEWBURYPORT — A Seabrook restaurant manager charged with raping an employee at her Salisbury home was expected to post $10,000 cash bail following a dangerousness hearing Monday in Newburyport District Court.

In addition to rape, Marvin O. Hernandez, 40, of Haverhill was arraigned Oct. 26 on charges of strangulation/suffocation, attempting to commit a crime and assault. The charges cover incidents involving two women that occurred about the same time, according to the prosecutor.

At the arraignment, Judge Peter Doyle ordered Hernandez be held in custody until the hearing, which was to determine whether he posed too great a risk to the Salisbury woman or the public to be afforded bail while awaiting trial.

On Monday, Essex County prosecutor Michelle Belmonte asked Doyle to hold Hernandez without bail, saying there were no conditions of release that ensured the women's safety.

Belmonte said Hernandez was a manager at a restaurant where they all worked. Hernandez allegedly went to the Salisbury home Oct. 24, where he had never been, and attacked one woman and then violently assaulted the other.

Hernandez's attorney, John Valerio, said his client has no criminal record, has worked at the same restaurant since 2008, and lived in the same place for 18 years. Valerio said Hernandez's employer was holding his job for his return and that the police report did not tell the entire story.

"A valued and trusted employee," Valerio said of Hernandez.

A police report attached to the complaint was ordered impounded by Doyle about the time of Hernandez's arraignment.

Valerio agreed there was enough probable cause to hold his client without bail but asked Doyle to release him on conditions that would ensure the safety of the two women.

Anticipating Valerio's request, Belmont previously told Doyle that if the judge released Hernandez, she wanted him to be fitted with a GPS tracking device and ordered to stay out of Salisbury and away from the second woman's Haverhill residence.

Doyle agreed to the GPS device and ordered Hernandez to not leave his home except to go to work and to stay out of Salisbury. Hernandez must also stay out of trouble with the law and must not have any weapons or explosive devices.

Doyle also ordered Hernandez held on $10,000 cash bail, an amount a family member in the gallery said he would post within hours.

Hernandez is due back in court Jan. 5 for a probable cause hearing.