Victor Viera-Tirado sentenced to 9 years in prison for assault on elderly victim in his home
June 1, 2022 -Springfield- On Tuesday, May 31, 2022 Victor Viera-Tirado’s guilty plea was accepted by a Hampden County Superior Court Judge in a 2020 assault and battery, and home invasion of a male victim, 91 at the time of the incident, in East Longmeadow.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni stated, “I would like to thank the East Longmeadow Police Department who swiftly investigated this case and identified the suspect, along with Assistant District Attorney Nina Vivenzio, a member of my office’s Elder and Persons with Disabilities Protection Unit, for her expert prosecution. Acts of preying on vulnerable individuals are particularly heinous, and law enforcement will respond forcefully to anyone who targets vulnerable people.”
The victim, who had just returned home from church on October 25, 2020, answered his door to a male, later identified as Victor Viera-Tirado, 49, of Springfield, asking him questions about a nearby home for sale. He also asked the victim for a drink of water. As the victim went inside to get Viera-Tirado a drink, he followed him into the house and put him into a choke-hold from behind with on arm, and retrieved the victim’s wallet with his free hand. He then violently led the victim around the home, sill holding him in a chokehold around his neck, demanding more money.
When Viera-Tirado heard members of the victim’s family enter the home to visit, he fled, with $25 taken from the victim’s wallet. A member of the victim’s family was able to get a description of the vehicle and a license plate number being driven by the defendant, it turned out the vehicle was borrowed from a roommate. Members of the East Longmeadow Department immediately opened an investigation and using the description and information provided by the victim and his family, detectives were able to identify the defendant, apply for an arrest warrant, and eventually bring him to justice.
On May 31, 2022 the defendant appeared in Hampden County Superior Court to plead guilty to the following charges: unarmed robbery of a person over 60 subsequent office, kidnapping, strangulation or suffocation, and assault and battery on a person over 60 resulting in injury.
Victor Viera-Tirado was sentenced on the same day to nine years in state prison, followed by two years’ probation, with drug and alcohol treatment, random testing, and an order to stay away from the victim and the victim’s address and street. This is the third time the defendant has been convicted of unarmed robbery of a person over 60 years old.
Assistant District Attorney Nina Vivenzio represented The Commonwealth in this case.