NORTHAMPTON — The residents were finishing dinner when there was a knock at the front door.
When one of them went to answer, prosecutors said, a man, Nhetto Tomi, 25, who was wielding a gun barrelled through the entrance. But the intruder perhaps got more than he bargained for when the Puffton Village apartment residents fought back — kicking and beating him, striking him with a golf club and then subduing him with a Taser.
Prosecutors said Tomi’s accomplice, Lamont C. Thomas, 27, had pushed him through the door and fled to the get-away car outside where police later located him.
That was in May 2015. On Friday in Hampshire Superior Court, the two Springfield men admitted to their respective roles in the Amherst home invasion and were each sentenced to five years’ prison time followed by three years’ probation.
Tomi pleaded guilty to home invasion, possession of a firearm while committing a felony, carrying a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm without a license. Thomas pleaded guilty to home invasion and two counts of misleading a police officer.
Prosecutors initially recommended Tomi receive six to eight years in state prison for the possession of firearm during a felony as well as two concurrent House of Correction sentences for two and half and one years, respectively, on the other gun charges.
Prosecutors recommended Thomas receive five years in prison for each of the misleading charges, to be served concurrently. It was also recommended that both men receive three years of probation for the home invasion charge, which carries up to 20 years to life in prison, according to sentencing guidelines.
When police arrived at the scene, Thomas was beginning to pull away in a gray sedan, Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matthew Thomas said in court. Lamont Thomas first told an officer he’d witnessed a robbery committed at the apartments by three men who then fled.
He then told another officer he was just hanging around the complex after having attended a party nearby and was “looking for companionship with women,” the prosecutor said. Investigators learned from the apartment residents that Lamont Thomas had been at the same apartment a week earlier allegedly trying to buy marijuana.
Authorities also said they recovered marijuana, cash and paraphernalia in the residence, which may have been motive for the invasion.
Though Lamont Thomas didn’t enter the home, he was jointly charged for the home invasion. A grand jury declined to indict him on joint weapons charges, ADA Thomas said.
Judge John S. Ferrara granted the recommended sentence to Lamont Thomas, but said the sentence was lenient given his “outrageous” criminal record which includes a slew of other weapons charges.
Thomas’ attorney, Colin Keefe, told the judge that Thomas pleaded guilty to hold himself “fully accountable,” and that he believed Thomas, who has some college education, had potential to become a successful businessman.
“There’s no reason to believe Mr. Thomas given the history given here,” Ferrara said to Keefe. “There’s no reason to believe he’s going to change his ways.”
Ferrara also noted he was unsure whether Thomas’ lies to police should be treated as separate charges or as one charge of misleading officers. He said he’d take it under advisement.
Even though Tomi had the gun in his hand and entered the apartment, Ferrara said he saw both men as equally culpable in the invasion. He gave Tomi, who has no prior convictions, a sentence of five years to five years and one day – the same as Thomas’ sentence – on the leading firearm charge and took the attorneys’ recommendations on the other charges.
“I’m hard pressed to see, if I’m going to sentence Mr. Thomas to five years to five years and one day, why I’m going to sentence Mr. Tomi to six to eight years,” the judge said.
ADA Thomas said he deserved state prison time for invading another person’s home.
“A person’s home is their castle,” he said, “and Mr. Tomi violated that.”
Jack Evans can be reached at jackevan@indiana.edu.