New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“A 48-year-old New Bedford man with a long history of domestic violence was sentenced to serve five to seven years in state prison Monday after being convicted of assaulting, kidnapping and terrorizing his girlfriend, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Anthony Medeiros pled guilty to indictments charging him with two counts of Domestic Assault and Battery, two counts of Larceny of a Motor Vehicle, one count of Kidnapping, two counts of Unlawful Possession of a firearm, six counts of Unlawful Possession of High Capacity Feeding Device and one count of Unlawful Possession of ammunition.
On February 1, 2023, the defendant and victim were having dinner at his home, when he abruptly asked the victim for her phone. He began to look through her phone, accused her of cheating, and smashed the victim’s phone onto the ground. He then punched the victim in the head, grabbed the victim by the back of her neck and pinned her against a wall mirror. The defendant instructed her to take off her jewelry because he had given it to her. He then began to pull at her watch and bracelets and instructed her to give him her jacket and her sneakers.
After taking these items, he then took the keys to two of the victims vehicles and would not let the victim leave the apartment for roughly an hour. Afterwards, he drove the victim in her vehicle to his former place of employment, ABC Disposal. He pulled off to the rear of the property, where there was a wooded area with multiple dumpsters. The defendant pulled the victim from the vehicle and asked her if she was ready to die for roughly 30 minutes. The defendant then drove the victim back to her home but kept her vehicle. On the next morning, the defendant came to the victim’s home and took her other vehicle.
While speaking with police later on that day, the victim indicated that the defendant was in possession of multiple firearms. Subsequently, officers obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s home and found a Norinco 5.56 Assault Rifle, a Bushmaster 22 Assault Rifle, both of which accept high capacity magazines, and over 900 rounds of ammunition. All firearms were found unsecured and the defendant does not have a license to carry firearms.
The defendant has a 13 page criminal record, which includes convictions for threats, witness intimidation, restraining order violations, assaults and gun crimes. It appears that 11 separate restraining orders have been filed against him locally.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Courtney Cahill and Kaitlyn O’Leary, who recommended a stiffer seven to nine year state prison sentence. Judge Valeria Yarashus, however, sentenced the defendant to serve five to seven years in state prison, to be followed by two years of supervised probation.
“These are outrageous acts of violence committed by the defendant for no rational reason. The defendant is a menace who has a history of violence and violating restraining orders. He needs to be kept off street to protect the victim and the public from him,” District Attorney Quinn said.”
