Authorities have arrested and charged a Mattapan man they believe broke into the cars of two emergency room nurses at Boston Children’s Hospital while they were at work earlier this month.

Tomongo Bey, 56, is being charged with two felony counts of breaking and entering and two counts of vandalizing property. He was arraigned on the charges in the Roxbury division of Boston Municipal Court, and a judge ordered him released on personal recognizance with conditions. He is, however, being held on a warrant that isn’t bailable out of Middlesex court, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office in a news release.


Authorities determined it was Bey who allegedly committed the April 11 incidents after viewing “hours of video surveillance” from that day. They saw a person “with a distinctive haircut” go into the garage and leave about an hour and a half later. Some of the videos showed the person appearing to look into vehicles parked within.

Bey, who reportedly has a “lengthy criminal history,” according to Rollins’s office, was identified by a parole officer after authorities shared the image of the person in question with other law enforcement agencies.

“It is hard to believe that in this moment in our lives, someone would go to a hospital parking garage and smash and grab items from parked cars,’’ Rollins said in the release. “The chances are excellent that the cars and belongings were those of front line medical workers who are literally risking their lives to keep us safe, or people who are ill, or their worried relatives.”

Photos of the victims’ vehicles show smashed windows. One of the nurses, Renée Cather, told The Boston Globe at the time that her overnight bag was missing and that it included a change of clothes and some personal items, including Airpods.

“I just felt very sad that that’s the location in which this would happen,” she had told WCVB.

Two ER nurses at Children’s Hospital had their car windows smashed in and belongings stolen after working 12 hour shifts. They were both parked in the garage there. Some things were recovered, @bostonpolice confirm detectives are investigating and adding extra patrols. #wcvb pic.twitter.com/8tjPBC3kTc — Peter Eliopoulos (@petereliopoulos) April 13, 2020