LOWELL MAN GUILTY OF ASSAULT, EXTORTION

April 28, 1988

CAMBRIDGE -- A Lowell man yesterday was sentenced to two years in Middlesex House of Correction after a jury found him guilty of extorting money from his elderly mother and stepfather to buy heroin. David Bellefuille, 33, was also convicted of assault with intent to rob the couple; kidnapping, because he confined them under threats; assault with a dangerous weapon, a hammer; and assault and battery. Assistant District Attorney David Linsky presented evidence in the three-day trial that Bellefuille had threatened to kill his mother and stepfather; had menaced them with a hammer; and had threatened to blow up the house. The mother is 68 and the stepfather 75, Linsky said.

Copyright 1988, 1998 Globe Newspaper Company