By DAN CROWLEY
Staff Writer
Daily Hampshire Gazette
NORTHAMPTON — A 38-year-old Springfield man involved in three area house breaks, an attempted jail escape and death of a toy poodle in Easthampton was sentenced Thursday to serve four to six years in state prison followed by two years probation.
Under a plea agreement, Angel Villanueva pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to three counts of breaking and entering into a building in the daytime, two counts of larceny of over $250 from an elderly person, larceny in a building, possession of burglary tools, and an animal cruelty charge in connection with house breaks in Huntington, Easthampton and Northampton in 2014.
He also pleaded guilty to charges of attempted escape and vandalizing property brought by the Northwestern district attorney’s office in connection with an attempted escape in July from the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction. In that case, Villanueva used parts of a pair of nail clippers to dig through the concrete ceiling of his cell and create a hole that opened into a crawl space, according to prosecutors.
The sentencing was agreed upon by the district attorney’s office and Villanueva, who was represented by Lisa Lipiello, a court-appointed attorney. Villanueva was sentenced to five additional two- and three-year prison terms on several of the charges, including animal cruelty, to run concurrently with the four- to six-year sentence.
“The death of a dog was probably the most horrendous act that was done,” Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Jennifer Suhl said in interview after the court hearing before Judge Daniel Ford. “He stole irreplaceable jewelry from homes. It was a huge loss for the homeowners who are in their late 80s.”
A native of Puerto Rico who immigrated to the United States in 2008, Villanueva was first arrested along with a co-defendant, Gamaliel Nazario, 34, also of Springfield, in October 2014 after the pair broke into a home on Norwich Lake in Huntington and stole electronics and other items. Nazario, who fled from police and was later captured, was sentenced earlier this month to three years in prison in connection with that case.
Villanueva was later charged with breaks into homes in Easthampton and Northampton in September 2014 that included the theft of cash, jewelry and $5,000 in savings bonds, according to the district attorney’s office.
One of the break-ins occurred on Loudville Road in Easthampton and resulted in the death of a 12-year-old, female toy poodle who was found dead at the bottom of the basement stairs in the home of two elderly people. A veterinarian who examined the dog determined she died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to Easthampton Police.
Suhl said one of the dog’s owners provided the court with a written victim impact statement that she described as “quite heartbreaking.”
Lipiello, the defense attorney, said in telephone interview after the court hearing that Villanueva expressed remorse to her while she worked on the case.
“It’s sad and he thinks it’s sad, too,” she said. “He just feels horrible about the whole thing.”
Villanueva had family in the courtroom Thursday when he was sentenced and also has a 3-year-old son, according to Lipiello. She said she believes Villanueva recognizes that he is at a point in his life when he needs to turn it around and break from his criminal past.
“I would be surprised if the court saw him again,” she said. “I think this is the end of the road for him.”
Dan Crowley can be reached at [email protected].
