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Written by: Dan Merica
Two women have been charged in the stabbing of Bentley student, senior Rafael Pena, in the upper chest early Wednesday morning inside Fenway Hall.
Breanne Fraser, 21, of Cranston, RI, and Sarah Monta, 19, of Danvers, MA, plead not guilty to assault and battery with a deadly weapon, along with one count of armed robbery yesterday afternoon in Waltham District Court. Fraser and Monta were arrested by University police after the 3 a.m. incident.
Both suspects will be held without bail until Wednesday, February 10, when a “dangerousness” hearing will be held in the Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn, MA. Fraser and Monta hung their heads in court, covering their faces from the cameras of news and print media.
Pena has been released from the hospital and is in stable condition despite receiving what authorities called a “deep stab wound.”
According to the official Bentley University arrest report, at approximately 3:25 a.m. on February 3, police officers were dispatched to Fenway after receiving a report of a male stabbed by 2 females following an argument. One officer was posted in the Farm Lot at a car with a Rhode Island license plate. This was believed to be the suspect’s car.
Another officer responded to Fenway, where Pena was found in the lobby with a deep stab wound to his upper right chest, along with blood on both his shirt and hands.
Another officer at this time observed two girls walking on Beaver Street towards the Farm Lot. After much resistance, the two girls were then handcuffed and put into separate police vehicles. No weapons were found on either suspect.
Neither Fraser nor Monta are Bentley students. According to Lieutenant Bill Williams of the University Police Department, “the people who were taken into custody knew the person who was stabbed.”
According to the arrest report, Fraser stated that money for sex was involved in the dispute. She stated that Mr. Pena had said, “I guess I’m not going to have sex, so how about a blow job for $50 dollars,” to which both women said no.
The arrest report also stated that the evidence found in the women’s purse and pockets consisted of two different types of perfume and lotion, lipstick, Chap Stick, lip gloss, birth control, nine condoms, and lubricant jelly, among other items.
Both women accused in the February 3 dispute also have a court date in Boston Municipal Court, where they were involved in an another altercation with a man living in a Boylston apartment. According to Jake Whark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the altercation stemmed from a disagreement regarding sex for money.
“Monta and Fraser came to the door and stated that it would be 200 dollars for one girl and 300 dollars for two girls,” said Whark. He went on to say that “the officers took the women into custody, and during the booking process found 300 dollars in the same denominations as the money the man involved said he had given to the women.” According to the police report, the women were “uncooperative and hostile” to the January 6 responding officers.
It was the prior incident coupled with the Bentley stabbing that forced the Middlesex District Attorney’s office into labeling the pair a danger to society and ask for the denial of bail.
When asked whether he could confirm if these women were prostitutes, Williams stated that he has no knowledge of that, but stated that “I would not be surprised that they were involved with something like that.”
Students were notified of the stabbing via an e-mail at 7:16 Wednesday morning from Dean of Student Affairs Andrew Shepardson. “We will share more information with the community as it becomes available,” read the e-mail.
“However, I do want the community to know that the situation is being addressed,” the e-mail also stated.
As the story was breaking this morning, students told The Vanguard that they were concerned with the lack of information they were getting.
“We all wish we knew more,” said senior Katie Brodrick. “Right now everyone is watching the news, and the news knows more than the students,” she added.
Sophomore Bree Johnson echoed Brodrick’s concerns by saying, “We have enough information as far as not having to be worried about the rest of our community, but would like to hear more.” Johnson went on to say that what she wants is an explanation, stating, “I would like someone to let me know how two girls with a knife got into Fenway… I would like to know how this happened.”
To quell students’ fears, Dean Shepardson sent out another campus-wide e-mail at 5:15 p.m., outlining a number of tips from the University Police Safety and Security Report, as well as recommendations for what to do “while you are out and about.”
“Thank you all for looking out for each other,” read the e-mail. “We all need to be a part of the solution in keeping our campus safe,” it stated.
Doreen Floyd, assistant dean of Student Affairs, recognized the growing concern among students, stating, “We want to make sure that students feel safe on this campus, because they should.” At the same time, though, she recognized the reality of the situation.
“At Bentley this thing is not typical,” said Floyd, adding “but we all walk around with the perception that this is a very safe campus, and it is in large part, but I think we live in greater society and things can happen.”
Jon McColgan and Rebecca Langweber contributed to this report.
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