BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (WSVN) – A convicted rapist who is now facing kidnapping and indecent assault charges in connection with an attempted abduction of a female jogger in Bridgewater Sunday has been held on $100,000 bail.
Gordon J. Lyons, 57, of Bridgewater, covered his face with a sheet Tuesday as he was arraigned from his hospital bed on charges including kidnapping, indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older, and assault and battery. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
Officials also said in court that Lyons was convicted of rape in 1978 in a case out of Barnstable District Court.
Lyons stopped his vehicle and tried to abduct the 37-year-old woman. The woman, whose name has not been released, fought back and a neighbor came to her aid.
The woman told 7’s Kimberly Bookman that she immediately noticed Lyons’ car because is slowed down as it passed her on Pleasant Street around 7:30 a.m. When Lyons got out, she said she knew right away that he was coming for her.
The woman explained that Lyons grabbed her by the forearms and wrists, and pulled her towards his car.
“He chased me, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me toward him,” the woman said in a statement to police. “I struggled. We fell to the ground. He grabbed my left breast. I kept screaming and kicking at him.”
Neighborhood resident Donald Prohovich, 84, spotted the attack and believes his presence scared Lyons away.
“I asked the guy, ‘what are you doing?’ He got up and started running back to his car,” Prohovich told 7News. “He happened to see me. That’s when he bolted.”
Lyons sped off and crashed a few miles away, according to police, but the woman was able to snap a photo of the vehicle’s plate.
Lyons was arrested a short time later after he was involved in a motor vehicle accident on the northbound side of Route 24 in West Bridgewater.
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