(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Reginald Sonds, 60, was found guilty after a bench trial of Assault in the Second Degree, for striking a resident of a sober house in the head with a baseball bat.
“The victim was living in a sober house, a place meant to offer safety and stability, when this defendant attacked him with a metal bat and left him bleeding with a serious head wound,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Now the defendant will face justice for his brazen and violent act.”
The evidence at trial established that on September 11, 2022, Suffolk County police responded to a 911 call for an assault at a sober house in Bellport. Officers found the victim bleeding with a large laceration to the left side of his forehead. He was transported to Long Island Community Hospital for treatment.
Surveillance footage from inside the residence depicted Sonds and the victim interacting shortly before the victim returned to his bedroom. Sonds then went to his own bedroom on the opposite side of the home, retrieved a metal bat, entered the victim’s room, and began swinging the bat. Sonds then returned to his room and attempted to conceal the bat between his roommate’s bed and the wall.
On April 23, 2026, Sonds was convicted of Assault in the Second Degree, a Class D violent felony, after a bench trial heard before Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony S. Senft, Jr.
Sonds is due back in court for sentencing on June 11, 2026, and faces up to seven years in prison. Sonds is being represented by Luigi Belcastro, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Patrick J. Mullen and Patrick Fedun of the Major Crime Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Detective Steven Capparelli of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fifth Squad, with assistance from District Attorney Detective Investigator Robert Fitchett, Research Analyst Lisa Lombardo, and Discovery Expeditor Taylor Steele.
