Matthew Nilo, an attorney from New Jersey, is facing charges related to multiple sexual assaults in Boston over 17 years ago. On Monday, he returned to court as his legal team attempted to challenge DNA evidence gathered by the FBI without a warrant. The hearing took place in Suffolk Superior Court, attended by Nilo’s fiancée, Laura Griffin.

Prosecutors claim that DNA evidence connects Nilo to assaults that occurred in Boston during 2007 and 2008, when Nilo was 19 or 20 years old. Defense lawyers argue the evidence should be dismissed since it was obtained without proper legal authorization during an FBI operation at Oscar Wilde Restaurant and Bar in Manhattan in 2023.

“The commonwealth is claiming that they have some connection between Mr. Nilo and DNA from 15 years ago, but that evidence was presumably taken from tableware in New York without a warrant and searching it for DNA,” Nilo’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, stated.

FBI agents reportedly followed Nilo from his home in New Jersey to a Manhattan restaurant, where they gathered items such as drinking glasses, a fork, and a napkin after Nilo left. Prosecutors argue that Nilo no longer had any privacy expectations for the items once they were abandoned.

In May 2023, Special Agent Joe Bonavolonta highlighted the FBI’s use of investigative genetic genealogy, which helped in Nilo’s arrest. Investigators identified DNA on three rape victims and matched that DNA to a relative of Nilo through a public database. They later confirmed the match using Nilo’s DNA from a glass at a corporate event.

Nilo has been on bail during the legal process, supported by his fiancée. The initial charges against him, filed in May 2023, included three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of assault with intent to rape, and one count of indecent assault and battery.

In July 2023, a Suffolk County grand jury issued additional charges: one count of rape, one count of aggravated rape, three counts of assault with intent to rape, and two counts of indecent assault and battery.

His attorney, Joseph Cataldo, is contesting the evidence obtained by the FBI. Fox News Digital reached out to Cataldo for further comments.