MANCHESTER, NH — A Superior Court judge refused to revoke bail for a man accused of sexually assaulting three teenage girls who walked away from the Granite Pathways Youth Treatment Center last July saying new information a prosecutor provided did not meet the criteria for revocation.
Hillsborough County Superior Court North Judge Amy Messer also chose not to rule on an oral motion for reconsideration of the $10,000 personal recognizance bail set for Matthew Hugle, 25, of 56 Ledgewood Drive. She said that motion should be heard by Judge Diane Nicolosi, who originally set bail.
Hugel is charged with three counts of felonious sexual assault, one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault and three counts of being an accomplice to delinquency.
His co-defendant, Chadrick Heredia, 24, of Manchester, is charged with one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault during which the girl was physically helpless; felonious sexual assault of a girl between the ages of 13 and 15, and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Heredia is being held without bail.
Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Shaylen Roberts, at Friday’s hearing, said the state was unaware of Hugle committing another forcible rape of one of the girls at the time of his bail hearing. She said a witness would testify to that sexual assault. Roberts argued that made Hugle a danger to the public.
She also said that during the original bail hearing Hugle said he had sole custody of his now 10-month-old daughter.
On July 26, a day after the bail hearing, the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families took custody of Hugle’s daughter.
New Hampshire Public Defender Carl Olson said the custody issue involved the hygiene of the apartment which since has been cleaned. Hugle, he said, has unsupervised visitations twice a week with his daughter and is well on his way to regaining custody of his child.
“He is the only parent involved,” Olson. “The mother was last known to be in Texas.”
As for the latest rape allegation, Olson said prosecutors have the option of presenting evidence before the grand jury, which would result in another bail hearing if an indictment is handed up.
Hugle remains free on $10,000 personal recognizance bail with conditions including that he abide by a curfew, live with his mother, stay away from the girls and Granite Pathways, and not possess a weapon, among others.
The charges stem from an incident on July 23 when the three teens walked away from the Granite Pathways Youth Treatment Center, which treats teens with mental health issues and substance abuse disorders. They walked to the 7-Eleven on Webster Street where they intended to get someone to buy them alcohol.
Soon after, Hugle arrived and the girls got into his car. He picked up Heredia and drove to several locations, plying the teens with alcohol, according to the prosecutors.
When two of the teens returned to Granite Pathways, a prosecutor said one was nude, the other was partially clothed and both were covered in vomit, highly intoxicated and distraught after being sexually assaulted by two men.
One of the girls was inconsolable. They told staff the other teen who went with them left with one of the men, later identified by police as Hugle, the girls told the staff. They said the men had videotaped them with their cell phones while having sex.
At one point in the night, the two girls said they woke up in a field to see their friend being sexually assaulted. Both girls were taken to the Elliot Hospital for treatment.
The third girl was located the following morning at Hugle’s Ledgewood Drive home. He allegedly admitted that he had sex again with the teen at his home.
