Mass. man, arrested over 100 times, sentenced to more than 7 years in prison for harassing interracial couple

A man with an extensive criminal history who pleaded guilty in March to harassing an interracial couple online was sentenced Monday to seven and a half years in prison, officials said. 

Stephen M. DeBerardinis, 48, of Boston and Dedham, was charged after sending a couple who had posted their engagement on Facebook a series of threatening messages, including racial slurs. He then threatened the couple when they said they were reporting him to police, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts. 

An investigation into DeBerardinis’s background revealed that he had been arrested more than 100 times over the past 24 years, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He was previously convicted on numerous crimes including threats, intimidation, false reports of a crime, and impersonation of a police officer.

Months after threatening the couple in January 2021, DeBerardinis reportedly threatened a journalist who wrote an “unflattering article about his involvement in a protest where he was seen trying to punch protesters at a rally,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

“In addition, DeBerardinis’ Facebook account contained multiple posts of race motivated, hate filled speech and white supremacist symbolism,” the office said in a statement. 

During a search of his residence, officials found more than 70 knives, 22 brass knuckles, swords, bullets, black powder for guns, stun guns, and rifles, the statement said. Photos of these weapons were posted to his Facebook. 

“Stephen DeBerardinis is a career criminal with multiple felony convictions who continued to demonstrate a blatant disregard for the law by sending a series of horribly racist, hate-motivated threats of brutal violence to an interracial couple he had never met,” said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, in a statement. “It’s time to stop this defendant from committing further harm, and today’s sentence does exactly that.”

In the January 2021 incident, DeBerardinis sent the couple pictures of brass knuckles over Facebook Messenger and messaged them numerous threats, which included, “Read up more on me lol…you will see how me and my crew burn n*****s alive” and “White whores like you well [sic]…get rape and killed THAN [sic] we cut off body parts and mail them to your family lol.”

DeBerardinis was subsequently charged with transmitting interstate commerce threats to injure a person, tampering with a witness and victim by intimidation and harassment, threats, and corrupt persuasion. 

“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,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy in a statement. “This defendant’s horrifying and vicious threats were not only imperiled the safety and well-being of the victims here, but they were also a broadside attack on the values of equality and respect that our nation upholds.”

In addition to seven years and six months in prison, DeBerardinis was sentenced to three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

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