News

Amherst man gets 7 to 9 years for burglary, attack

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — A 20-year-old Amherst man has been sentenced to up to nine years in prison for beating a 62-year-old woman during a burglary.

Yaazziel Rivera was sentenced Monday in Hampshire Superior Court after pleading guilty to a pair of robberies in Northampton a few days apart in August 2011, including one that included the assault.

Authorities say Rivera entered a home he thought was vacant by removing an air conditioner from a first-floor window.

He struck the woman five or six times over the head and threatened to kill her if she got up off the floor.

Rivera stole $60 in cash and some jewelry.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette (http://bit.ly/145p5x3 ) reports he was tied to both crime scenes through DNA.

His lawyer said he was driven by an addiction to opiates.

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Information from: Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.), http://www.gazettenet.com