Man gets ten years for beating and robbing a worker at a Brookline spa while on probation for beating and robbing workers at a Waltham spa

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Alfeu Barbosa, 26, of Burlington, to 121 months in prison for his participation in the robbery of two spas, one in Brookline, while he was wearing a GPS monitor as part of the probation that was his punishment just six weeks earlier for robbing a third spa and beating one worker badly enough to send her to the hospital.

A jury in Boston federal court had convicted Barbosa in March on two counts of robbery affecting commerce. One of his alleged robbery pals, Jonas Nunez, pleaded guilty in January and got 23 months in prison. The other, Li Wen Tang, pleaded guilty in April and is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 9, the US Attorney's office reports.

According to a sentencing memorandum by assistant US Attorney Robert Richardson - who argued for a 151-month sentence - Barbosa, Nunez and Tang entered Balance Reflexology Spa, 1908 Beacon St. in Brookline, at the Brighton line, on the evening of June 12, 2022.

Both Mr. Nunez and the defendant were wielding firearms during the robbery. During the robbery the victim was pulled by the hair down the hall and had a gun pointed at her head, among other things. The robbers then used duct tape to restrain the victim. It was apparent from the victim’s testimony and demeanor at the trial that she had been severely traumatized by the experience.

Richardson continued that the trio wasn't happy with how much money they got - just $500 according to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case - so they decided to rob another spa, one in Stoneham Tang was familiar with. But first Tang declared they needed more muscle:

The defendant places a call, and soon thereafter three men appeared in a Jeep. The robbery was then carried out by the defendant, Mr. Nunez, and one of the defendant’s associates. The defendant and Mr. Nunez were again wielding guns. Again the robbers restrained the victims with duct tape.

Barbosa was wearing an ankle bracelet that day. Just six weeks earlier, a Middlesex Superior Court judge sentenced him to 2 1/2 years in jail for a 2021 robbery at a Waltham spa in which he beat a worker so badly she had to go to the hospital for a fracture in the bone around one of her eyes - but the judge then suspended the jail time if Barbosa could stay out of trouble for three years.

Richardson wrote:

The defendant obviously could have spent many years in state prison as a result of this conviction. Rather than take advantage of the reprieve he was given and turn his life around, the defendant instead went right back to precisely the same conduct: attacking and robbing spa workers with deadly weapons. It does not bode well for his conduct on release in this case.

Barbosa's attorney, Alyssa Hackett, urged a sentence of just 6 1/2 years, less than what federal sentencing guidelines would call for.

She wrote that Barbosa should get points for his childhood in a broken home - his mother died when he was very young and his father was deeply religious and beat him regularly, which forced him to run away and become homeless - and giving him PTSD from which he still suffers.

As a Cape Verdean by birth with only legal resident status here, he will likely be deported to Cape Verde after his sentence, but "Mr. Barbosa does not have a relationship with any family members living in Cape Verde and will have no place to stay or means of survival there," she wrote.

She continued that as a foreign national, his time in federal prison will be far harsher than that of native-born inmates, starting with the fact his status makes him ineligible for any in-prison programs aimed at preparing him for life back on the streets.

He will also spend more time in a B.O.P. [Bureau of Prisons] facility than a similarly situated citizen because he is not eligible for transfer to home confinement or a residential reentry center. Mr. Barbosa's status as a legal permanent resident means that he is not eligible for the residential drug treatment program, not eligible for home confinement at the end of his sentence, and not eligible for transfer to a residential reentry center the last year of his sentence. ... He will also be given a public safety factor as a deportable alien, just as a person would receive if they had a history of escape, that will make him ineligible for transfer to a camp facility. ... Non-citizens also may not work outside the perimeter of a B.O.P. facility, obtain furlough, and are deprioritized for literacy and language education.

And even if he gets the reduced time, she was recommending, Abreu will then likely spend several months after his release locked up in an Immigration facility before being put on a plane out of the country.