Swampscott stalking suspect released

LYNN – A Lynn District Court judge ordered the conditional release of a Swampscott man accused of stalking a Lynn woman during a dangerousness hearing Tuesday afternoon.Prosecutor Brad Pappalardo asked that Judge Albert Conlon find Mark Sacco, 43, of 63 Pleasant St., to be dangerous based on evidence in a Lynn Police incident report and the fact that Sacco had five prior restraining orders on his record, along with a conviction for violating a restraining order.?This is a sick case about control, about not letting go,” Pappalardo said. “This defendant went way too far and greatly concerns the commonwealth in all regards.”But, after hearing defense attorney Jill Gately?s argument that the woman Sacco is accused of stalking was not looking to have him held without bail, Conlon ordered him to be released without bail on the condition that he be monitored with GPS and abide by the statutes of his latest restraining order.Sacco had been in the Essex House of Correction since Thursday after he allegedly struck his ex-girlfriend several times with a 5-pound weight and refused to leave her house for several hours, and then left messages on her cell phone threatening to have her killed. Pappalardo played the expletive-laden messages for the judge as part of his argument.In the first message, an enraged Sacco stated, “I want to (expletive) kill you,” and told the woman all he needed to do was tell someone her name and it would be “out of my hands.”?You?re about to see what I?m about,” Sacco said in the second voice mail.Sacco?s tone changed considerably in third voice mail, left a couple hours after the first two which were left within minutes of each other. Sacco was no longer yelling, instead he apologized and called the woman “babe” in a calm, subdued tone.?I just want to be with you,” he said. “Hope you?re having a great night.”Gately argued that the messages were “snapshots of a burst of anger.” She said Sacco had been “alternating between weeping and expressing remorse” ever since she met him Thursday and that his relationship with his 12-year-old son, of whom he has partial custody, gave “a bigger picture of the person he truly is.”The prosecution also argued that Sacco was not only dangerous to his ex-girlfriend but to the public at large. In a separate incident on Wednesday, Sacco allegedly followed a woman down Highland Avenue in Salem and yelled at her as he drove next to her car.?My concern is for public safety,” Conlon said after making his decision. The judge said he would require a mental health evaluation for Sacco should his charges be resolved.Sacco faces 60 days in jail without bail if he violates the restraining order and is due back in Lynn District Court for a pre-trial hearing on Feb. 15.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].