Peabody man sentenced in Saugus bat attack

LYNN – A Peabody man will spend 30 days in jail and must comply with mental-health treatment after pleading guilty to attacking a sporting goods store employee with a stolen baseball bat while proclaiming President Obama to be the Antichrist.”He’s a completely different person,” Probation Officer Reid Cassidy said when a Lynn District Court judge asked if the defendant’s mental-health treatment had been effective.Joseph DeAngelis, 44, of Peabody pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault with a dangerous weapon; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; larceny +$250; assault; and resisting arrest. A charge of violating a city knife ordinance was dismissed.The charges relate to a March 2 report of a man who was out of control and swinging a baseball bat at people in the parking lot of Dick’s Sporting Goods at the Square One Mall.Saugus Police found mall security had disarmed the suspect, identified as DeAngelis, and were trying to hold him to the ground.”As Officer Murphy and I brought DeAngelis to his feet, he stated, ?Obama is the Antichrist and all Democrats suck,'” Saugus Police Officer Jeffrey Wood wrote in a report. “DeAngelis said ?I had to steal the bats to arm my buddies at the Tunnel Taxi Company in East Boston. There are non-English speaking Muslims working there and I know they are part of a terrorist cell.'”Witnesses reported a belligerent DeAngelis came into Dick’s and began screaming about Obama and Democrats. Employees tried to get him to leave, and DeAngelis grabbed several bats and two hockey sticks as he went out the door.An employee confronted DeAngelis in the parking lot, and DeAngelis charged him and swung the bat at his head. The victim was able to block the bat and escape serious injury.”As the defendant stated to police, he was lucky to have been able to defend himself from that blow or he could have been seriously injured,” Essex Assistant District Attorney Andrew Boyd said.Boyd acknowledged DeAngelis had mental-health issues, but he suggested the structure of a short jail sentence and strict probation would ensure DeAngelis would continue successful treatment.Boyd requested a 2 ? year jail sentence, with three months committed time and the remainder suspended for three years of probation. Requested probation conditions included that DeAngelis be monitored by GPS, comply with mental-health treatment and continue taking prescribed medications, remain drug and alcohol free, have no weapons, and stay away from Dick’s Sporting Goods and the victims and witnesses.Defense attorney David Gabriel requested straight probation for 1? years and the same conditions as requested by the commonwealth, excluding GPS monitoring.”This is an individual who has slipped through the cracks for a number of years,” Gabriel told the court, saying his client had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. “The commitment to Bridgewater has enabled him to get the care he needed.”Gabriel noted DeAngelis had been out of custody since late March and had complied with probation, mental-health conditions and sees a visiting nurse twice a day.Judge Michael Laurenzano ordered DeAngelis be sentenced to two years in jail, 30 days to be served, and the balance suspended for three years of probation. Probation conditions include compliance with mental-health treatment and taking prescribed medications, no weapons or drugs and alcohol, and to stay away from Dick’s Sporting Goods and all victims and witnesses.Gabriel said Wednesday that the verdict reflected a broken criminal justice system.”The criminal court system is not particularly interested in nor is it really geared to the mentally ill,” Gabriel said. “We are treating them like criminals, not necessarily taking care of them, and then wondering why things happen.”