Attleboro man sentenced to prison in Fall River after violently beating, molesting girlfriend

A 34-year-old Attleboro man who violently assaulted his girlfriend last April was sentenced recently to state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced.

Kellie Koehler pled guilty in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with Strangulation-subsequent offense, Intimidation of a Witness, Indecent Assault and Battery on a Person Over the Age of 14 and Domestic Assault and Battery.

During a sentencing hearing held last Friday, Assistant District Attorney Courtney Cahill argued for an eight-to-10-year state prison term, while the defendant requested two years in the county jail. Judge Raffi Yessayan sentenced the defendant to serve four to six years in state prison, to be followed by three years of supervised probation. Koehler will have to register as a sex offender, must complete a domestic batterer’s program and will be fitted with a GPS monitoring device upon his release from prison.

On April 17, 2022, the victim was out in Boston with her friends until approximately 2:00am. When she got home, Koehler sexually molested her despite her pleas for him to stop. After being pushed off of her, Koehler then tried to pull down victim’s pants with enough force to rip them. Because she didn’t want to have sex with him, Koehler assumed that the victim was cheating on him. Koehler punched, slapped, head-butted, and strangled the victim. At one point, Koehler held the victim down on the bed by her neck.

The victim attempted to have her Alexa device call police during the altercation, but Koehler ripped it out of the wall. The victim was eventually able to text her adult son to call the police. When police arrived, the victim ran out of the front door towards officers. Koehler was in the doorway yelling for the victim to stay in the house. Due to past abuse, the victim has a video camera that points at her bedroom door. A recording from the camera shows much of the assault as described by the victim.

“The defendant committed A violent and irrational assault against the victim who he has continued to abuse during their five-year relationship. He clearly is a danger to the victim and needs to be locked up to protect her,” District Attorney Quinn said.