Ex-Pat's worker pleads guilty in `racial attack'; Judge imposes 1-2 year sentence.

PositionLOCAL NEWS

Byline: Gary V. Murray

WORCESTER - A former employee of Pat's Service Center pleaded guilty yesterday to charges stemming from what a prosecutor described as a 2009 "racial attack" on two men of Mexican descent at the Shrewsbury Street towing company.

Jeremy Dusoe, 24, of 14 Palace Gardens Road, entered guilty pleas in Worcester Superior Court to two counts each of kidnapping, assault and battery to intimidate, assault and battery and a civil rights violation with injury in connection with the May 1, 2009, assaults.

As recommended by Assistant District Attorney Terrence M. Reidy and Mr. Dusoe's lawyer, Elizabeth Dembitzer, Judge James R. Lemire sentenced Mr. Dusoe to 1 to 2 years in state prison, but stayed the execution of the sentence until May 11.

Mr. Reidy said the victims, 20-year-old Juan Carlos Murillo and his 48-year-old father, Pablo Murillo, were subjected to racial slurs as they were being assaulted by Mr. Dusoe and other Pat's employees after a dispute over the younger Murillo's car having been towed.

The prosecutor said Mr. Dusoe was not the "instigator" of the attack, but did participate.

According to Mr. Reidy, the younger Mr. Murillo's car was towed by Pat's April 30, 2009, after he went to visit his mother at Washington Heights. The assistant district attorney said Pat's employees towed the vehicle because they believed it was illegally parked.

Mr. Murillo went to the towing company the next morning and became involved in an argument over the validity of the tow and the cost, according to Mr. Reidy. Mr. Murillo left and later returned to the Shrewsbury Street garage with his father, Mr. Reidy said.

Once the two men entered the premises at 5 Shrewsbury St., employees shut and locked the door behind them, according to the prosecutor. Mr. Reidy said an argument broke out over the validity and $125 cost of the tow.

Pat's employees, "in unison," began to hurl racial slurs at the father and son...

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