Last Plea Entered In Ocean Avenue Assault

A judge accepted the final plea from a group of three men accused of seriously injuring a 45-year-old man in a July 2010 assault.

Andrew Goldstein, 22, of 122 Shagbark Road in Glastonbury, entered an Alford plea to first-degree accessory to commit first-degree assault. The plea does not admit guilt but concedes that the state could convict him at trial. Goldstein also entered a guilty plea to risk of injury to a child in a separate matter.

The plea dismissed or amended the initial charges, which were first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, and first-degree assault. Judge Patrick J. Clifford sentenced Goldstein to serve 12 years in prison, suspended after six years, and three years of probation.

Goldstein, along with 21-year-old Noel McKenny of 60 Hillcrest Road and 19-year-old Marc Pontes of 102 Williams Street in Norwich, were accused of attacking and robbing Norman Riley after he complimented one of the men’s girlfriends at at 1 Ocean Ave. According to the police report, the group invited Riley to go swimming with them at and he gave two of them a ride in his car.

Riley told police he followed the other members of the group in his car until they pulled over near Jerome Road. A woman who was with the group and cooperated with police said the men repeatedly punched Riley and hit him with a glass vodka bottle. Some members of the group said Riley had made inappropriate remarks at the store and rear-ended their car prior to the assault.

Riley said he had $60 and two cell phones stolen from him. He was taken to and later airlifted to the trauma unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where it was determined that he was bleeding in the brain.

The risk of injury charge referred to a February 2010 incident in which Goldstein was charged with providing liquor to two 15-year-old girls and having consensual sex with one of them. The plea dismissed charges of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of illegal sale of alcohol to a minor.

McKenny entered a no contest plea to first-degree assault in April, dismissing two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree larceny, and one count of tampering with a witness. He was to 12 years in prison, suspended after 70 months, with three years of probation.

Pontes, who had the same charges as Goldstein, entered a no contest plea earlier this month to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault. He will be sentenced on Jan. 19, with the state recommending the same sentence as the one that was given to Goldstein.