NORTHAMPTON — An Amherst man was sentenced to seven to eight years in prison on Oct. 4 in connection with a 2019 home invasion in which the victim recognized the masked man by the sound of his voice, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
Hampshire Superior Court Judge Richard Carey sentenced Oscar Garcia Alvarado, 24, to the state prison term after he changed his plea to guilty on charges of armed and masked robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, prosecutors said.
As part of the agreed-upon sentencing recommendation, the commonwealth dropped charges of home invasion and armed burglary.
The crime occurred on Nov. 14, 2019, when Garcia Alvarado and another man, both of whom had concealed their faces by means of hooded sweatshirts, entered the victim’s Amherst apartment while he was playing a video game online with friends from across the country.
One of the men carried what appeared to be a handgun and the other what appeared to be a rifle.
The identity of the second man is unknown, prosecutors said.
The men ordered the victim onto the floor, demanded money and one of them struck the victim in the back of the head with the weapon.
But the victim recognized the voice of Garcia Alvarado, whom he had known years prior, and when he referred to him by his name, Garcia Alvarado allegedly said: “Who’s Oscar? Stop saying my name or I’ll kill you.”
The pair then left with $320 in cash and numerous electronic items, the district attorney’s office stated.
The victim’s friends, meanwhile, heard the scuffle and called 911 to summon help, but when police arrived, his assailants had fled.
Garcia Alvarado was arrested by Northampton police on an unrelated offense in March 2020 and was subsequently charged with the armed robbery and arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court on March 30, 2020. He was then indicted and arraigned in Hampshire Superior Court on April 1, 2021.