Man held in Somerville car bombing
Jealousy a motive alleged in attack
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | January 6, 2006

SOMERVILLE -- The former boyfriend of a Malden woman was charged yesterday with building a bomb that detonated on Thanksgiving morning, leaving a Somerville man blind in one eye, permanently disfigured, and recovering from burns that cover one-third of his body, authorities said.


Breaking News Alerts Joel Lemos, who police say is an illegal immigrant from Brazil who sneaked back into the United States last Sept. 11, pleaded not guilty to five charges in Somerville District Court, including constructing the explosive that nearly killed Fernando Araujo Nov. 24.

Lemos, also known as Jose Antonio Casares de Sousa, is accused of venting jealous rage against Cheri Ellis, whom he dated for about a year before Ellis broke off the relationship, according to a police report filed in court.

''If I see you with anyone, I will kill you," the 36-year-old Lemos allegedly told Ellis last fall, according to a Somerville police report. ''I love you."

Ellis, who eventually obtained a restraining order against Lemos in Malden District Court last October, also told police about another conversation she had with Lemos.

''I have people following you," Lemos allegedly warned Ellis. ''I know where your family lives . . . be careful."

In court papers, police said Lemos contrived a complicated plan to avenge himself on Ellis and Araujo, whom she had begun seeing. He first placed a plastic bottle, apparently filled with gasoline, on Ellis's 1999 white Honda Civic while it was parked in the driveway of the Wheatland Street apartment where Araujo lived.

The car started burning around 4 o'clock on Thanksgiving morning and was quickly put out by firefighters after the roof, windshield, and interior were damaged, according to the report.

About five hours later, Ellis and Araujo started transferring items from her damaged car into Araujo's 1993 white Honda Civic, which was also parked in the Wheatland Street driveway, police said in the report.

Araujo turned the key in the trunk, triggering a bomb that Lemos is accused of installing inside. Araujo, according to Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Thomas O'Reilly, remains in the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, more than 40 days after Lemos allegedly tried to kill him and Ellis.

The resulting fire spread to the side of the Wheatland Street home. Yesterday, the house was vacant, the damage still visible. Efforts to reach Ellis yesterday were unsuccessful.

After the explosion, State Police bomb specialists found evidence of an improvised explosive device, including a surplus military ammunition container, the remnants of a padlock attached to the container's lid, 12 nine-volt batteries, wiring, and a toggle switch, according to the report.Police said Lemos was staying at a friend's apartment in Amesbury, where they searched his knapsack. Inside, investigators said, they found a hand-drawn diagram of a bomb similar to the one used against Araujo and a master key to Araujo's car.

Police said they later recovered a key ring belonging to Lemos and on it a key that opened the padlock discovered in the mangled car.

Lemos was arrested in Lawrence on Nov. 27 on harassment charges filed by Malden police on Ellis's behalf. He has been held at the Middlesex County jail since then on $10,000 cash bail. He resolved the Malden cases Wednesday and was arrested as he left the courthouse, police said.

John J. Guinane, Lemos's court-appointed attorney for yesterday's arraignment, said in court that Lemos is the sole proprietor of a Somerville pizza shop, and he discounted the bombing case as based on circumstantial evidence.

District Court Judge Maurice Flynn ordered Lemos held on $250,000 cash bail. Federal immigration officials have indicated they will take him into custody if he makes bail.

Lemos is due back in court Jan. 31.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... r_bombing/