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Hyde Park man admits he threatened to carve up interracial couple for the crime of existing

DeBerardinis

A man who lives in Hyde Park on the Dedham line pleaded guilty today to charges he used Facebook Messenger to hurl racial insults at an interracial couple - and to threaten to murder and dismember them should they go to authorities, the US Attorney's office reports.

Stephen DeBerardinis, 46, formally pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting in interstate commerce threats to injure a person, one count of tampering with a witness and victim by intimidation, threats, and corrupt persuasion and one count of tampering with a witness and victim by harassment, the US Attorney's office says.

US District Court Judge Allison Burroughs scheduled sentencing for June 10.

DeBerardinis, who tried to run an online knife and brass-knuckle shop, has been behind bars since his arrest in September, 2021 as a possible threat to society, following his indictment by a federal grand jury.

According to the indictment, DeBerardinis used Facebook Messenger on Jan. 6, 2021 to send racial epithets to a White woman who had posted photos on Facebook of her and her newly engaged Black fiance. The indictment says that DeBerardinis did not know either the woman or the man, but saw the photos because he was Facebook friends with some of the woman's friends.

The woman showed the messages to her fiance, who used her Facebook Messenger account to try to call DeBerardinis. He did not answer the call, but replied a minute later in text: "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME!!!!! YOUR WHITE TRASH AND A DIRTY COCK SUCKER."

Not long after, he sent the woman another obscenity-laden message, to which she replied, "Don't worry, I'm reporting you to the cops." According to the indictment, he replied with a graphic reading "SNITCHES GET STITCHES" emblazoned with an image of brass knuckles. When the couple told him to leave them alone - and that they were reporting him to police, he answered:

Read up more on me lol ... you will see how me and my crew burn niggers alive. ... And white whores like you well.... get rape and killed THAN we cut off body parts and mail them to your family lol.

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Comments

Can we pay prisoners at whatever jail he has to report too to call out fish, fish, fishy that night?

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I’m guessing with the plea he’ll be out by the next Juneteenth.

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"DeBerardinis, who lives in his mother's house, was a prominent participant in a "Back the Blue" rally in front of the West Roxbury police station earlier this month, at which police had to pull him out of a scrum with protesters after he tried to punch some of them. He responded to Universal Hub coverage of the event, which included two photos of him, with e-mail threats to "COME FOR YOU HARD HAHAHAHAHAHA."

The life of a Trumper.

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He's deeply, deeply concerned about the economic and cultural decline of America.

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all mothers will have yuuuge basements!

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White supremacists as prominent belligerents at a Back the Blue rally? Surely you jest.

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No bud. Not the life of a trumper. This dude has been a weirdo long before the country became politically charged and divided. I’m a trumper and I find it repulsive to threaten people you don’t even know because they dated interracial. It’s not about politics. It’s about mental illness.

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You bought 'em, you own 'em.

I mean, I ran into him at one of those pro-Trump, "Back the Blue" rallies in West Roxbury (which is where I took that photo).

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who lives with mom in late adulthood and sends out internet death threats.

I’m sure one or two of you are just swell guys, though. Mazel.

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And you know what people who associate with Nazis are called?

Nazis.

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Does being a Trumper keep people here anon? Republicans are welcome here. Choose a 'handle' and help avoid confusion @anon.

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The Magas want to pretend they're a larger group than they really are, so confusion over numbers is no doubt intentional.

That, and they're cowards. Scared of everything.

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1) Looks like a nice fella

2) Now we know what happened to Crash Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8olTfKZnFiM

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They don't make movies like that anymore @Will LaTulippe. :)

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wearing what he thinks is his Crazy Badass Face, but to everyone else, it merely looks his "Oh No, I Just Sat in a Cold Puddle of Something Awful" Face.

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I assumed he was going for the Curly from the Three Stooges look.

nyuk nyuk nyuk

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Magoo gives this gentleworm a big thumbs down. Magoo.

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I have to give Magoo a thumbs up. :-)

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The crime occurred on January 6, 2021. I wonder what got him all riled up...

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the Trump rally in West Roxbury.

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He was arrested in September 2021 for the crime he committed in January 2021, and the above article says he's been in jail ever since? But the article above says he's 46 now, and the article from 2021 says he was 45 then...

So, has he actually been in jail since 2021? That would be good...

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To be exact, at the Plymouth County jail, which is one of the places the feds send people awaiting trial in Boston.

He was denied bail from the start. On Jan. 26, 2022, Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler issued a formal detention order that said his history far outweighed promises from his mother and girlfriend to keep him in check and ensure he takes the medicine he needs for mental-health issues. She first noted his record - including a charge of assault with a sword:

The defendant has an extensive and serious criminal record. It spans over two decades and has over 100 hundred entries and more than 30 convictions in at least 15 different courts. It includes multiple convictions for larceny, attempting to commit a crime, impersonating a police officer (four times), larceny by check, arson of a dwelling house, making a false report of a crime (multiple times), uttering a counterfeit note, identity fraud, withholding evidence, making a false 911 call, threatening, larceny from a single scheme, and larceny from a building. In addition, he has been found guilty of violating an abuse prevention order on five occasions. Currently, the defendant has open cases in two courts. In the West Roxbury District Court, the defendant is charged with assault with a sword. In the Dedham District Court, he is charged with violation of an abuse prevention order. The defendant's criminal history includes at least 13 defaults and 17 probation violations.

From 2011 to the present, the defendant has been the subject of 13 abuse prevention orders requested by 12 different men and women. Members of his own extended family, including his brother, his daughter, the mother of his daughter, his brother's girlfriend, and, most significantly, his own mother, are among the individuals who have obtained abuse prevention orders against the defendant.

And so:

After a careful and thorough review of the defendant's personal characteristics, background, criminal history, the submissions of the parties, the recommendation by Pretrial Services, and the relevant case law, this court is convinced that the defendant presents a risk of serious danger to the community and cannot be released. The defendant has continuously committed crime for over two decades. Many of the defendant's crimes have involved violence. His proclivity for violent behavior has resulted in 13 restraining orders including two lifetime orders. One of the victims stated that she lives in fear of the defendant every day. In addition, the retaliatory language in the defendant's Facebook posts suggests that there is a substantial risk of obstruction of justice. Finally, although the defendant is a lifelong resident of Boston, his criminal history is replete with defaults, and he cannot be expected to appear as required. This court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant presents a danger to the community and there is a risk that he will obstruct justice and there are no conditions or combination of conditions that will assure the safety of the community if the defendant is released.

In addition, this court finds by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the defendant constitutes a serious risk of failure to appear.

Read the entire detention order.

He filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, which upheld his denial of bail.

When he is sentenced, the time he's spent behind bars will be subtracted from the time he actually has to serve.

It's a long time to have sat in jail before trial (or in this case, a guilty plea), but both sides filed agreements to exclude stretches of that time from speedy-trial calculations "in the interests of justice."

As for his age, yeah, some discrepancy there. The age cited in the story is what the US Attorney's office reported today.

Editor's note: I had a bit of a personal interest in the case since he threatened me after I posted his photo for a story about a Back the Blue rally in West Roxbury. I went down to E-5 to file a report and even wound up talking to a couple of FBI agents, although, to be honest, his threat to me was a lot more vague than the threats to the couple that got him arrested (along the lines of "COME FOR YOU HARD HAHAHAHAHAHA"), let alone all his past attacks, so nothing ever came of it (and now he is facing a possible maximum sentence of 28 years in federal prison).

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Why isn't possession, distribution and manufacturing of brass knuckles illegal in Massachusetts? I have to admit I didn't read the whole charge sheet.

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MA GL Partiv/Titlei/Chapter269/Section10

(b) Whoever, except as provided by law, carries on his person, or carries on his person or under his control in a vehicle, ... metallic knuckles or knuckles of any substance which could be put to the same use with the same or similar effect as metallic knuckles ... when arrested upon a warrant for an alleged crime, or when arrested while committing a breach or disturbance of the public peace ... shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years in the state prison, or for not less than six months nor more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction, except that, if the court finds that the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony, he may be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or by imprisonment for not more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction.
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But,

I posted his photo for a story about a Back the Blue rally in West Roxbury.

Perfectly reflective of the Back the Blue crowd. Career criminal, where this isn't the case of someone wanting law and order. It's wanting there to be a force that's deployed to hurt/harm groups that they don't like. Always disappointed at best to see the thin blue line flags or punisher stickers on cars, and they're not few and far between.

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that if he ever saw any Punisher stickers, especially if they were from cops, he'd go after you.

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NOT a “Hyde Park” man. Mom’s house is on the Dedham side of the line.

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Which side of the town line was that on?

The press release from the US Attorney's office today said he was from "Boston and Dedham," but court filings (see the one in the comment above about his denial of bail) called him a Boston resident, at least after his indictment, the cover sheet for which gave his address as "Hyde Park/Dedham."

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I found mom’s address on Dedham online property tax records. Just trying to protect the name and reputation of my home ground (and anyway Readville only technically Hyde Park, just ask someone from Readville!).

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"YOUR A DIRTY COCKSUCKER"

I just can't take you seriously if you still don't know the difference between "your" and "you're."

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for people of that persuasion. Misusing apostrophe's.

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Misusing apostrophe's.

Whose dialect includes adding apostrophes where they do not belong?

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