Derek Blumenthal and Christopher Chamberlain both of Brockton are being held at the Bristol County Jail. They are charged with extortion by threat of injury and witness intimidation. It is alleged that they made threats to a Brockton dentist’s family and tried to extort money from them. According to reports in the Brockton Enterprise, the defendants were driving by the victim’s Easton home every ten minutes demanding four hundred dollars for money purportedly owed for drugs. The men made threatening calls from their cell phone, telling the dentist’s wife that if she did not pay the money that her son owed they would go “into the house and beat her beyond recognition”. More calls had been made earlier in the day and messages were left with the dentist’s answering service in Raynham and Dorchester. Over 20 calls were made altogether.
Read Article: http://www.enterprisenews.com/news/x1177286299/Two-Brockton-men-charged-with-extortion
So what are these guys looking at?
1. Extortion: The Massachusetts statute making this a crime in Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 25. The law prohibits anyone from communicating a threat to someone else with the intent to extort money from that person. A conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to 15 years if the case in prosecuted in the superior court. If the reports are correct this case was properly charged.
2. Witness Intimidation: Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 268 Section 13B sets out the criteria for witness intimidation. If you threaten someone who is a potential witness in a criminal case you can be found guilty of this charge and sentenced for up to ten years in prison. The article does not make clear how these two men are in violation of this statute.
I would bet that these cases remain in the district court given the absence of any physical harm to the victims. If that is the case both defendants face no more than 2 1/2 years in the Bristol County House of Correction.
We defend these crimes in Brockton courts and in Bristol County and throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As a Massachusetts and Brockton Criminal Defense Law Firm we will aggressively fight any and all criminal allegations and protect your rights. If you have been charged with a crime in Brockton or elsewhere in Massachusetts call our office at 617-263-6800 or contact us online.