Fall River Man Sentenced in Multiple Stabbings

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn, III announced today that a 26-year-old Fall River man has been sentenced to serve eight to ten years in state prison, along with three years of probation after his release, for his role in multiple stabbing incidents.

Edwin Pacheco pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court late last week to a total of five indictments involving two separate incidents. The defendant was charged with three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Assistant District Attorney Michael A. Cahillane and defense attorney Anthony Mastromarino submitted an unagreed plea to Judge Rene Dupuis. Prosecutors requested that the defendant serve up to 15 years in state prison. Judge Renee Dupuis sentenced the defendant to serve eight to ten years in state prison with three years of probation following his release from prison.

On July 13, 2013, Edwin Pacheco punched a 21-year-old man, knocking him to the ground outside of a home on Locust Street in Fall River. Pacheco repeatedly kicked the man while he was down and when the victim stood up, Pacheco swung at the victim with a knife three times, cutting him in the forearm and arm. Pacheco fled from the scene in an automobile.

The victim was taken to Charlton Memorial Hospital and later transported to Massachusetts General Hospital to undergo surgery to repair a cut tendon in his arm.

On December 12, 2015, at approximately 1:49 am, the Fall River Police Department responded to JC’s Café & Restaurant located on Bedford Street to investigate a stabbing. Upon arrival, officers learned that three people had been stabbed. The first victim was stabbed in the inner right thigh and transported to Rhode Island Hospital. The second victim was stabbed in the right chest, left lower ribs, and left palm, and was also transported to Rhode Island Hospital. The third victim suffered a laceration to his left forearm and two small lacerations to his stomach, and was treated at the scene.

An investigation by the Fall River Police determined that Edwin Pacheco started a fight inside the restaurant after other patrons were told they would no longer be served alcohol. When the fight was broken up, employees and patrons of the bar escorted Pacheco and the people he was with outside of the establishment. Within minutes Pacheco returned to the bar and surveillance video showed that he stabbed the three victims when they tried to keep him from re-entering the bar.

Fall River Police located Pacheco, hiding, unclothed, in the bedroom closet at the home of an accomplice. Also in the closet, officers located a knife, and in the bedroom police located the blood-stained clothes Pacheco was seen wearing on the surveillance video.

“The defendant is a very violent individual who needs to be removed from society to protect the public,” District Attorney Quinn said. “Hopefully the ten year sentence will accomplish that.”

--Bristol County District Attorney's Office