Published August 21, 2020
MELROSE — A local serial sex offender was bailed out of jail by a nonprofit organization recently.
North Reading Police arrested 34-year-old Tyler Jacquard, 9 Beacon Pl., Melrose, on an outstanding warrant on Friday, June 19. The warrant was issued for the serial sex offender several days after he was reportedly seen masturbating in a motor vehicle outside MarketStreet Lynnfield’s Club Pilates.
Around 1:45 p.m. on June 14, a citizen called Lynnfield Police to report a man was allegedly committing an act of open and gross lewdness in a 2001 Toyota Corolla parked outside the Pilates studio. Police were given the Toyota’s license plate number and issued a summons charging Jacquard with open and gross lewdness (subsequent offense).
Boston 25 News obtained Peabody District Court documents revealing that the Massachusetts Bail Fund posted a $30,000 bail on Jacquard’s behalf. According to the nonprofit organization’s website, the fund “pays up to $5,000 bail so that low-income people can stay free while they work towards resolving their case.” The nonprofit organization raises money through private donations.
Melrose Police Chief Michael Lyle was stunned after learning that the Massachusetts Bail Fund bailed Jacquard out of jail.
“We have victims in Melrose involved with Mr. Jacquard, and now throughout the region,” Lyle said in an interview with Boston 25 News. “I would hope (Massachusetts Bail Fund) would have that information. Anybody that has any inkling of what this guy’s done in the past would certainly have reservations about assisting him in any way.”
Lynnfield Police Chief David Breen echoed Lyle’s concerns in an interview with the Melrose Weekly News.
“This organization’s intent is puzzling,” said Breen. “There doesn’t seem to be a spokesperson and their actions are extremely concerning. Why anyone would want to supply bail to a repeated sex offender is outrageous. There are multiple victims that will live with memories that will scar them for life and now that these perpetrators have been released from confinement must be terrifying to the victims. As law enforcement officers, we try to do our best to protect those that live in our communities. Releasing repeated sexual predators is not in anyone’s best interest.”
The Massachusetts Bail Fund was criticized for bailing out another Level 3 sex offender last month. Shawn McClinton got arrested again after allegedly raping and trying to strangle a Quincy woman.
The MarketStreet incident in June was the latest in a long string of similar incidents involving Jacquard. Melrose Police arrested him on a parole violation in September 2019, trespassing and disorderly conduct after he was spotted hanging around the back of an apartment building on West Emerson Street in the city. A woman who lived in a unit there at the time went to police earlier in the day on Sept. 21 and told them a suspicious man may have been looking in her apartment window.
Around 8:30 p.m. that night, two Melrose officers on bicycles decided to ride by the apartment building and spotted Jacquard go around back. They waited, and when he emerged, Jacquard had no reasonable explanation for being on the property.
In November 2018, Jacquard was charged with climbing through an unlocked window at an Endicott College dormitory and standing over a woman while she slept. According to Boston 25 News, the Essex County District Attorney’s Office decided against indicting Jacquard due to a “lack of evidence.”
Jacquard was arrested for peering into Wellesley College dormitory windows in 2017.
At the time of his arrest in November 2018, a prosecutor called the allegations against Jacquard “incredibly disturbing.”
Boston 25 News reported last year that Jacquard’s criminal history included at the time at least 23 arraignments and approximately 10 convictions for lewd and lascivious behavior, and open and gross lewdness.
A former prosecutor who now represents victims of sex crimes told Boston 25 that unless there are repercussions for his actions, Jacquard would likely continue to offend.
The Massachusetts Bail Fund did not respond to a request for comment to the Melrose Weekly News.
“The big story here is why the Massachusetts Bail Fund won’t talk to anybody,” said Lyle in an interview with the Melrose Weekly News.