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Alexander Ivaneko faces charges of assault and battery on a person over 60 causing injury, assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery to intimidate, and two counts of civil rights violation with injury, the Suffolk County District Attorney said. A judge ordered him held on $5,000 bail.
Police said Ivanenko approached an elderly Asian-American woman on April 2 and then punched her in the face as she walked near Marginal Street in Chinatown. A few hours later, Ivanenko attacked another Asian-American woman in Downtown Crossing before he ran away, authorities said.
The attacks were unprovoked, and Ivanenko didn't know either of his victims, the prosecutor said. Surveillance video and the women's description helped link him to the attacks.
Ivanenko, who was in prison on an unrelated charge, was arrested last month.
“The attacks against these two women were utterly unprovoked and are an intolerable local manifestation of a disturbing trend we’re witnessing across the nation," District Attorney Kevin Hayden said. "These incidents provide a stark example of the way careless and inflammatory national rhetoric can lead to dangerous local repercussions."
Ivanenko was also charged with attacking a 67-year-old woman outside of the Alewife Station in June, MBTA police said. He grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the ground for no reason as she passed him before he walked away.
She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at an area hospital.
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