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A 34-year-old New Bedford man with an extensive and violent criminal record who was arrested last December for strangling and assaulting his pregnant girlfriend was sentenced to serve up to four years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Lance Monteiro pleaded guilty on September 29 in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with strangulation-subsequent offense, assault and battery on a family or household member-subsequent offense and assault and battery on a pregnant woman.
On December 12, 2020, the defendant arrived home later than expected and the victim became upset. The two of them got into a verbal argument which led to the defendant throwing her down and chasing her up the stairs to her bedroom, where he proceeded to strangle her to the point where she couldn’t breathe and was in and out of consciousness. The two children, aged 4 and 7, were present and left the scene with the victim’s mother when police arrived.
The defendant has an very violent record. He has served 2 ½ year jail sentences on numerous occasions for various violent offenses, several of which were domestic violence related felonies.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Kyle McPherson and Jennifer Schmidt. The three-and-a-half year to four year state prison term was imposed by Judge Susan Sullivan.
This defendant has a lengthy history of domestic violence and continues to commit these types of crimes. He definitely needs to be off the streets to protect victims and children, who unfortunately had to be exposed to this violent incident,” District Attorney Quinn said.
