A Massachusetts man with a criminal record of more than 100 different arrests was sentenced on Monday for threatening an interracial couple on Facebook Messenger in January 2021 and trying to prevent the couple from reporting the threats, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua S. Levy’s office said in a statement.
Stephen DeBerardinis, of Boston and Dedham, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. In March, he pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting in interstate commerce threats to injure a person, one count of tampering with a witness and victim by intimidation, threats, and corrupt persuasion and one count of tampering with a witness and victim by harassment.
The subjects of the harassment, a white woman and a Black man, announced their engagement on Facebook in late December 2020. DeBerardinis did not know the couple but could view their Facebook pages because they had mutual Facebook friends, Levy’s office said.
On Jan. 6, 2021, DeBerardinis, using his own Facebook account, sent the couple a series of threatening and harassing messages, which included slurs. When the couple replied to tell DeBerardinis they intended to report him to law enforcement he replied with a message that said, “snitches get stitches” along with a photo of brass knuckles. He also continued to threaten the couple, according to Levy’s office.
After the harassment was reported to police and eventually federal investigators, officials discovered DeBerardinis has an “extensive” criminal record that includes more than 100 arrests over the past 24 years. He had previously been convicted of threats, intimidation, false reports of a crime, impersonation of a police officer, and larceny, among other crimes, according to Levy’s office.
Investigators also found that DeBerardinis threatened a journalist in September 2021 who wrote an unflattering article about a project he attended where he was seen attempting to punch protesters at a rally, according to the statement. His Facebook account contained multiple posts of “race motivated, hate filled speech” and white supremacist symbols, Levy’s office said.
During a search of DeBerardinis’ residence, police found more than 70 knives, 22 brass knuckles, swords, bullets, black powder for guns, stun guns, rifles and a number of other weapons. Investigators also found photos of weapons on his Facebook page.
In the statement, Levy said DeBerardinis’ “horrifying and vicious threats … were also a broadside attack on the values of equality and respect that our nation upholds.”
“The toxic brew of racist hate, threats of violence and use of social media to amplify vile and violent attitudes is a corrosive danger to every law-abiding member of our community,” he said. “The nearly eight-year sentence imposed on this defendant should send a message that when you engage in hate crimes, there is a serious price to be paid.”
