During this period, the defendant repeatedly said he hated people from Guatemala and would kill the victim if he didn’t leave the country.
Defendant also sentenced in separate case after pleading guilty to a hate crime for repeatedly threatening, harassing a 13-year-old Hispanic boy
Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a Dobbs Ferry man was sentenced on Thursday to six years in state prison for assaulting two teenagers in September 2022. The defendant also received a one-year sentence in a separate hate crime case for harassing and threatening a 13-year-old boy.
DA Rocah said: “We are holding this defendant accountable for his vicious attack on two teenagers and his repeated anti-Hispanic hate directed at a young boy. While the teenagers have been able to recover from their physical injuries, all three victims continue to deal with the trauma inflicted by this defendant.”
Assault
The defendant, Vincent Pappas, 63, pleaded guilty on Sept. 14, 2023, before State Supreme Court Justice James McCarty in Westchester County Court to Assault in the First Degree, a felony, and Assault in the Third Degree, a misdemeanor. He will be subject to five years of post-release supervision.
The defendant has remained remanded to Westchester County Jail since his arrest on the day of the 2022 assault.
On Sept. 29, 2022, at approximately 5:35 p.m., the defendant followed two 15-year-olds into a restaurant on Main Street in Dobbs Ferry. As he started yelling at them, the defendant punched one of the 15-year-olds in the face, causing him to fall down, and continued to punch him, at which point, the second victim attempted to physically stop the defendant. The defendant then pushed the second victim through the glass storefront window. A portion of the incident was captured on surveillance video.
One victim was transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where he was treated for a collapsed lung, a cervical spine fracture and multiple lacerations. The other victim went to St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers the next day and was treated for swelling on the head and pain to the face, jaw, chest and thighs.
The Dobbs Ferry Police Department arrested the defendant shortly after the incident.
In a statement made to the court, the mother of one of the victims stated: “While he survived his physical injuries, the mental trauma will stay with him for the rest of his life…. We are grateful for the team who brought this…man to justice and hope that he will never be able to harm anyone ever again.”
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Catalina Blanco Buitrago of the Hate Crimes Unit in the Trials and Investigations Division.
Hate crime
The defendant was sentenced to one year of incarceration after pleading guilty on Feb. 1 to the hate crime of Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, a misdemeanor. Between July 5 and Sept. 29, 2022, the defendant repeatedly harassed and threatened a 13-year-old boy, who is of Guatemalan descent, on a Main Street sidewalk in Dobbs Ferry. During this period, the defendant repeatedly said he hated people from Guatemala and would kill the victim if he didn’t leave the country.
The defendant, who was arrested on Jan. 19, 2023, while in custody at the Westchester County Jail on his prior case, was sentenced to 364 days of incarceration, which will merge with the six-year prison sentence for his assault conviction.
The case was before Judge McCarty and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheila Horgan of the Trials and Investigations Division, under the supervision of the Hate Crimes Unit.
