WESTFIELD – A Springfield man was sentenced to jail Thursday after he pleaded guilty in Westfield District Court to assault and larceny charges.
The charges stem from an Aug. 27, 2012, incident in which a man was lured to a deserted location in the city and robbed with a knife to his throat.
Police reported that the man was found, bleeding from “numerous shallow lacerations” on his neck, near the intersection of Kellogg and Orange streets.
Transported to Noble Hospital, the victim said that he thought he had been going to a party with a person known to him only as “Gringo” when they were joined by an unknown Hispanic man.
He told police investigators, led by Det. Anthony Tsatsos, that his companions led him to a dark area he did not know and appeared to be nervous.
He said that when he questioned them about the party they were purportedly heading towards, he was suddenly pushed down a flight of concrete steps and assaulted by the two men who kicked him repeatedly in his ribs and legs before a sharp instrument was placed at his throat and Gringo said “Don’t move, I’ll gut you.”
The victim said that the two men took his wallet, which contained $200, and his keys before they fled in a vehicle he described for police.
Tsatsos reports that the incident occurred on the dike near Whitney Playground.
He found Gringo to be a street name used by Jamie M. Francis, 21, of 867 State Street, Springfield.
The victim identified Francis as one of his assailants from among a group of photographs shown to him and Francis was subsequently arrested when he arrived at his job, late, at a fast food restaurant where he worked.
He was arraigned in Westfield District Court Aug. 23, 2012, on charges of armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Francis opted for a jury trial but, when the time came on Thursday, changed his mind and instead pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and larceny from a person before Judge Charles Groce.
Groce sentenced Francis to the maximum sentence permitted in district court – two and a half years in a house of correction – but ruled that he serve 18 months direct with the balance suspended with probation until May 25, 2015.
Groce also stipulated that Francis remain drug and alcohol free and be subject to random testing, that he remain employed or actively seeking employment and ordered Francis to perform 100 hours of community service for each of the charges he pleaded guilty to.
A charge of armed robbery was not prosecuted.
