NORTHAMPTON — A city man with a lengthy criminal record was sentenced to three years in state prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to stealing a car, along with other offenses involving a restraining order in Amherst last year.
Angel Luis Rivera, 47, of Northampton, pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court to larceny of a motor vehicle, subsequent offense, malicious damage to a motor vehicle, malicious destruction of property less than $1,200, larceny from a building, two counts of assault and battery on a public employee and violation of a restraining order.
Judge Richard Carey sentenced Rivera to three years in state prison on the larceny of a motor vehicle charge and three years in state prison on the malicious damage to a motor vehicle charge, with the sentences to be served concurrently. Rivera was also sentenced to three years’ probation for the remaining charges, which will begin after his sentence.
Rivera was credited with 120 days time served and Carey recommended that Rivera serve his full sentence at the jail at the request of his counsel.
Speaking before Rivera’s sentencing, Northwestern Assistant District Attorney Matthew Thomas said the car theft charge stemmed from Jan. 10, 2019 in Amherst, when Rivera stole a BMW sedan that was left running.
Thomas said surveillance footage “very clearly” showed Rivera later parking the car and walking to a convenience store. Before knowing about the footage, police talked to Rivera at the convenience store, where he denied any involvement with the car, Thomas said.
Rivera had been convicted in May 2014 in Northampton District Court of larceny of a motor vehicle, giving rise to his subsequent offender status, according to Thomas.
On July 27, 2019, Rivera received a restraining order that had been sought by Melissa Gagnon that ordered him to stay away from Crestview Apartments in Amherst. Near midnight that same day that Gagnon obtained the restraining order, she called police to say her belongings had been vandalized.
The windshield of Gagnon’s Cadillac “had been kicked until it was broken, the tires … were smashed, the front door to her apartment had been kicked in, and the word ‘whore’ had been scratched upon the front door,” Thomas said. Gagnon’s television was destroyed and her clothing was cut up, Thomas said.
Officers found a backpack in the apartment complex with Rivera’s belongings, Gagnon’s belongings and a crumpled-up copy of the restraining order given to Rivera.
Rivera later fought with officers as he tried to enter the Crestview Apartments complex, spitting on one police officer and punching another in the stomach.
In court, Thomas asked for Rivera to be sentenced to state prison for three to five years with probation to be served after. Thomas said Rivera was a “habitual offender” whose criminal record spanned 20 pages and 30 years, including violent crimes and drug offenses.
“In looking at his record, he’s had dozens of chances, dozens of second chances,” Thomas said. “And he’s squandered them all.”
Thomas said the probation period would make it easier to keep track of Rivera, saying the state didn’t believe he can be rehabilitated.
Rivera’s defense attorney, Korrina Burnham, said in court that she agreed Rivera “needed to be taken out of society for a period of time,” requesting the mandatory minimum one-year sentence on the car theft charge.
“I don’t think that Mr. Rivera has ever really done any of the things that he could have done or should have done to deal with things that happened to him in his childhood, and the things that led him to a lifetime of alcoholism, and the things that led him to a lifetime of crime,” Burnham said.
Rivera has been struggling more with his alcoholism in recent years, Burnham said, but she didn’t agree with Thomas’ assertion that Rivera could not be rehabilitated, asking Carey to give Rivera the opportunity for “serious treatment” in the county jail.
“I think he needs to make the effort to do it, but I don’t think that it’s impossible,” Burnham said. “I think now is a crucial time for him.”
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.