Boston Hate Crime Thug Sentenced to 7.5 Years for Racist Facebook Threats

BOSTON, MA – In a brazen display of racist hatred, Stephen M. DeBerardinis, 48, of Boston and Dedham, was sentenced to 90 months in prison for threatening an interracial couple via Facebook Messenger in January 2021.

DeBerardinis, a career criminal with multiple felony convictions, used his own Facebook account to send the couple a series of threatening and harassing messages, including racist slurs and threats of brutal violence. When the couple messaged DeBerardinis that they were reporting him to law enforcement, he sent them a message that said, “SNITCHES GET STITCHES” with a picture of brass knuckles.

According to court filings, a subsequent investigation revealed DeBerardinis’ extensive criminal record of more than 100 arrests over the past 24 years, including prior state convictions for threats, intimidation, false reports of a crime, impersonation of a police officer, and larceny, among other crimes.

“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,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “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.”

DeBerardinis was also sentenced to three years of supervised release following his prison term. The victims, a white woman and a Black man, announced their engagement on Facebook in late December 2020, and DeBerardinis, who did not know the couple personally, could view the announcement and photographs because he was a friend of one or more of the victims’ Facebook friends.

In a statement, Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, said, “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. It’s time to stop this defendant from committing further harm, and today’s sentence does exactly that.”