More than he could chew

It seems no one was seriously hurt, but Alex Rivera of Fitchburg racked up an impressive array of criminal charges — 26 — stemming from one incident. A cat-and-mouse game worthy of the movies began last Monday, when he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in her Leominster home, and ended the next morning, when police say he bit a cop on the neck as he was being apprehended.

When the girlfriend called police to pursue charges after the assault, Rivera retreated to the attic, which police described as a “barricade,” totally insulated and searing-hot with an unsteady floor, according to the Fitchburg Sentinel and Enterprise. He fought off at least half a dozen police with wood, first throwing it and then swinging it with both arms as they approached closer. Once within arm’s length of Lt. Robert Healey, reports allege, Rivera straddled him and bit down on his neck. The bitten cop and several others received disinfectant treatment; Rivera’s next hearing is today.

Not-so-Holyoke

It has not been a good week to be a weird criminal in Holyoke, where police are apparently cracking down on unorthodox perps. Last Thursday, a pair of New Yorkers took counterfeit $100 bills to the Holyoke Mall. After a store employee at the mall became suspicious of a fake, Holyoke police took down the offenders, who gave fake names before being arrested. Police got to the bottom of it, though, in more ways than one; they retrieved four more counterfeits from between one of the pair’s buttocks.

That was just a day after news emerged that a fledgling Holyoke politician would stand trial in Westfield District Court for failing to show up for jury duty. After a decision in a custody case went against him, Michael Franco became convinced that the state Trial Court is “systematically corrupted and politically motivated,” according to The Republican. (You couldn’t come up with a better excuse than that?)

Despite the threat of a $2,000 fine, Franco perseveres simultaneously with his fight against the courts (he has another count of avoiding jury duty in Springfield District Court) and with his political career. He has gone 0-for-3 in recent races for the Governor’s Council, Holyoke City Council and state Legislature, but neglecting his civic obligation has left him plenty of time to run for the Governor’s Council once again this year. o

All information taken from public records, published accounts and court proceedings.