< Back to front page Text size – +

Handicapped man charged with robbing blind man

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 9, 2009 11:56 AM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

A West Roxbury man today described how he was choked into unconsciousness by a thief who stole cash he had just taken out of an ATM machine in June.

"All of a sudden he grabs my left shoulder and says, 'This is a stick,' '' Donald Dawes said in an interview today. "He started choking me and all of a sudden, I feel like I'm falling through air.''

Dawes alleged attacker appeared in West Roxbury Municipal Court yesteday where he was described as a mentally handicapped person who has been living in a state-financed group home for 15 years.

With his sister and legal guardian looking on, Jerome Tate, 47, was arraigned in West Roxbury Municipal Court this morning on charges of armed robbery and assault and battery on a disabled person. Not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.

Tate, a barrel chested man, showed no obvious emotion during the brief proceeding. His attorney, Davis C. Bruce, however, pleaded with Judge Ernest L Sarason Jr. to send Tate to a supervised group home, not to jail.

"I don't think he will do too well'' at the Nashua Street Jail, Bruce told the judge. "He appears to be severely mentally retarded.''

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Mark Swadling said that Tate has been positively identified as the man who was seen in bank surveillance photos wrapping his arm around Dawes' neck.

Swadling said Tate attacked the blind man on June 20 and stole the victim's ATM card and $74 in cash from the Sovereign Bank branch on Centre Street in West Roxbury. He tried to use the ATM card unsuccessfully a few days later, Swadling said.

Swadling asked the judge to set bail at $150,000 cash, saying that after his arrest, Tate was barred from returning to a group home. That, Swadling said, made Tate a flight risk.

Swadling also said that Tate has been the target of threatening comments posted on Boston media outlet websites that reported on Tate's arrest.

Sarason set bail at $10,000 cash and ordered that Tate be evaluated at the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center in Boston.

Tate's older sister, Evelyn Tate, said in an interview after the arraignment that she is deeply worried about her younger brother's safety if he is sent to jail. She said she was stunned to learn that her brother was accused of attacking another handicapped person.

"We've known he's had problems since he was five or six years old,'' said Evelyn Tate. She said her brother has been diagnosed with schizophrenia in addition to being mentally retarded. "For him to do something like that to another handicapped person, I couldn't believe it. He's not like that, he's a gentle person.''

She said she was not convinced her brother was responsible until she was shown copies of the surveillance photos. "That's my brother,'' she said. "That's a damned shame. Where did my brother go?"

Tate has lived at the same group home for 15 years, she said. "He's not a flight risk. Where's he going to go?'' she said. "He wouldn't last in jail.''

Evelyn Tate also apologized to the victim and his family. "I am so sorry,'' she said.

Told of Tate's mental status, Dawes urged authorities to take whatever steps are necessary to separate Tate from the public at large.

"If he is a mentally disturbed person, he certainly ought to be committed to a place where they can take care of him, and not let him out on the streets to continue doing his pillages,'' Dawes said.

sovereign%20bank.JPG