Pittsfield man pleads guilty to assaulting mother during bacon spat

Posted Monday, September 10, 2012 9:31 am

PITTSFIELD -- A local man who police said attacked his mother last December after she yelled at him for eating too much bacon pleaded guilty to two charges on Thursday and was sentenced to four months in jail.

In Central Berkshire District Court, 19-year-old Christopher Rougeau of Pittsfield pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and felony witness intimidation, for pushing his mother, grabbing her by the throat and knocking her to the ground, and disabling a phone she was trying to use to call for help. The incident began, according to a Pittsfield Police report, when Rougeau's mother came home and found him eating a large plate of bacon. She said she had been saving the meat for a special breakfast later in the week.

Rougeau is already serving a six-month jail sentence for violating probation and his other sentence will run concurrently to that stint. The underlying charge was another assault and battery against his mother in June 2011.

Attorney Joseph P. Colonna, one of two lawyers representing Rougeau on Thursday, said his client was getting on the right track and had repaired his relationship with his mother.

Rougeau was also facing three felony counts of vandalism for allegedly attacking his ex-girlfriend's car during an argument by kicking the door, attempting to pull off the windshield wipers, and then jumping on the car's hood and kicking in the windshield.

Rougeau maintains that his ex-girlfriend attempted to run him down and that he jumped onto the hood to keep from being pinned next to another car.

Those cases were continued without a finding of guilt by Judge Michael Ripps on the condition that the defendant attend a batterer's program and refrain from abusing his ex-girlfriend and his mother.