Fall River man with 18 page criminal rap sheet sentenced in baseball bat attack

A 44-year-old Fall River man with an 18 page criminal rap sheet who assaulted another man with a baseball bat last May received the maximum jail sentence allowed last week after being convicted by a jury of his peers in Fall River District Court, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Frederick Stroud was convicted of Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon and was sentenced to serve two-and-a-half-years in the Bristol County House of Corrections by Judge Sabine Coyne.

On May 14, 2020, Fall River Police responded to a call regarding a man that had been assaulted with a baseball bat. On the 911 call, the male victim identified Stroud as the attacker.

Police and paramedics arrived on scene on Milliken Boulevard near the Dunkin Donuts. They observed the male victim with a laceration to the left side of his forehead along his hairline and a smaller laceration to his right earlobe. The victim stated that he was walking home from Dunkin’ Donuts when he saw the defendant in the passenger seat of a red van. The van made a U-Turn in the middle of the street and pulled alongside the victim. At that point, the defendant jumped out of the van and accused the victim of having something to do with his girlfriend losing custody of their children. The defendant went after the victim with a black and green metal baseball bat. Stroud first struck the victim in the stomach before then striking him multiple times in the head and neck area. The victim’s glasses and hat were knocked off his head, and the glasses were destroyed. The defendant then hopped back in the van and fled the area.

The victim was transported to St. Anne’s Hospital where he received several stitches for the laceration on his head.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nicole Cheney.

“The defendant has a lengthy criminal history of violence and needs to be kept off the street. I am pleased that jury trials are resuming which is the only way to move cases forward,” District Attorney Quinn said.