Four charged in Encore Boston Harbor casino brawl

Thursday 23rd January 2020

A 27-year-old Cambridge man accused of punching a stranger in the face and stomping on his head in a Encore Boston Harbor elevator is one of four people charged in an October brawl, including a casino employee, the Attorney General's Office announced Thursday.

The four have been indicted by a Middlesex grand jury in the Oct. 23 assault in an elevator at the Everett casino.

Matthew Haley, 27, of Cambridge, and Jose Mercado, 32, of Boston, were indicted on one count each of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (shod foot). Haley was also indicted on one count of assault and battery.

An Encore employee, Brittany Dawson, 24, of Stoneham, was indicted on one count of acting as an accessory after the fact. Dawson and Leilani Reyes, 20, of Somerville, were both indicted on one count each of impeding a gaming investigation.

Video surveillance from the casino showed Haley allegedly punching a man in the face, and causing the man to fall to the elevator's floor, according to an investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Gaming Enforcement Unit at Encore Boston Harbor.

"Haley then allegedly repeatedly kicked and stomped on the man's head and body, with Mercado joining in on the assault," the AG's Office said in a statement. "Reyes allegedly watched, while Dawson held the door to the parking garage from the elevator bay open for the men to escape and then drove them away from the casino. The victim and the defendants were allegedly strangers."

The four defendants will be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court at a later date.