Crime & Safety

'Dangerous' Man Released by Superior Court

A Woburn man is home, awaiting trial on several sex crimes against children.

 

A convicted murderer charged with several sex crimes against children is living less than a mile away from two public schools.

Thomas L. Bergeron, 57, of 40 Tremont St. in Woburn, is awaiting trial and was released Friday on house arrest by Judge Kathe Tuttman.

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According to court documents, Bergeron was arrested and charged in July with eight sexual crimes against children:  

Bergeron was arraigned in July 13 and ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. At that time, court officials recorded that Bergeron’s complete case file was impounded and not available to the public.

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A spokesman in the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said Wednesday that prosecutors believe Bergeron is a “danger” to the public and should be kept in jail until his trial.

“We had requested the dangerousness hearing in July and he was held under that,” said Stephanie Chelf Guyottee of the DA’s office. “During a bail review, the commonwealth asked that he continue to be held under that statute.”

But Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman ruled Friday that Bergeron was to be released “on conditions.”

According to officials, Bergeron is under house arrest and must wear a GPS-monitoring device. Other conditions include: He is allowed to go to work, as well as any legal and medical appointments. He is not allowed to make contact with the victim or the victim’s family members.

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Bergeron’s Tremont Street home is an estimated two-minute drive away and within walking distance to both the and According to Google maps, Bergeron’s house is a half-mile from Goodyear and one mile from WMHS.

As of Aug. 22, 2012, Bergeron is not listed as a registered sex offender on the United States Department of Justice website.

A "Planned Massacre"

Over 38 years ago, Bergeron was living in Monroe, CT. On June 18, 1974, Bergeron, then 19, and an accomplice, David Stowe, then 18, of Sandy Hook, CT, shot and killed Christine Bergeron, 23. Laurence and Vera Bergeron, Thomas and Christine’s parents, were treated for superficial gunshot wounds.

At the time, police believed Bergeron and Stowe had intended to kill all three members of the family for “money and insurance.” According to United Press International reports at the time, “Police Chief Jack J. Tuffano said both Bergeron and Stowe admitted after questioning they planned to ‘wipe out the family and divide the insurance.’”

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charges in August of 1974.  But in December 1975, the men had changed their plea to guilty and were sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for Christine’s murder. Bergeron was also convicted of assault in the first degree after shooting his parents. Officials called Bergeron and Stowe’s actions a “planned massacre of the family.”

Bergeron served jail time in Connecticut and was later released.

According to the U.S. Public Records Index, Bergeron has lived on Tremont Street in Woburn since at least 1994. Public records also indicate that his mother, Vera, died in February of 1997; his father, Laurence, died one month later.  

In court again...

Bergeron will be in court again on Sept. 21 for an indigency hearing and Oct. 19 for a probable cause hearing. His attorney, John Osler of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, did not return Woburn Patch’s phone call Wednesday.


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