East Boston man held on $85,000 bail for two sexual assaults

Eduardo Selvan Hernandez-Ortiz, 20, was arraigned today for an attempted rape on Saturday and for a rape on Nov. 1, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Hernandez-Ortiz is also charged with armed robbery in both cases at his arraignment in East Boston Municipal Court.

According to the DA's office, Hernandez-Ortiz was arrested early Saturday:

At approximately 1:30 Saturday morning, Boston Police responded to a Meridian Street building where a man followed a woman inside, then held a knife to her throat, robbed her of the $2 she was carrying, and sexually assaulted her. The victim told police that he attempted to rape her but fled when she resisted. Officers searched the area and located a man matching the suspect’s description, later identified as Hernandez-Ortiz, nearby. A wood-handled kitchen knife matching the one described by the victim was found in Hernandez-Ortiz’s waistband, prosecutors said.

The victim positively identified Hernandez-Ortiz as her attacker and the recovered knife as the one held against her throat.

Hernandez-Ortiz was placed under arrest and found to be in possession of the $2 stolen during the attack as well as certified mail addressed to another East Boston woman, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say detectives quickly linked him to the Nov. 1 attack and "told officers that the victim’s cell phone could be found at his West Eagle Street apartment," which it was.