UPDATED: Foxborough Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening Selectman Over Casino Vote

A Foxborough man pleaded guilty Thursday at Wrentham District Court to threatening a Foxborough selectman in April after the board voted against a proposal by Wynn Resorts for a casino and hotel on Route 1, according to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey.

“Michael Viscardi pled guilty Thursday to the charge against him, threatening to commit a crime, in the Wrentham District Court,” said Morrissey in a press release issued Friday.

Viscardi, 40, a local construction worker of 1 Spruce St. Foxborough, pleaded guilty to threatening to commit a crime, according to Morrissey.

On April 15, Viscardi had confronted Foxborough selectman Mark Sullivan in an angry manner and stated, “If you don’t change your (expletive) vote … you’re a dead man,” according to the press release. 

He was arrested and charged by following an investigation.

 “The charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in the county house of correction,” Morrissey said. “We requested that he serve two months incarcerated, then have a four month suspended sentence hanging over his head for three years with a list of conditions designed to change his behavior in the community.”

The court did not order the incarceration, however, but instead sentenced Viscardi to six months in the house of correction, suspended for one year.

The court did order the probation conditions requested by the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office. Those conditions include mental health evaluation and any recommended treatment, remain drug and alcohol free, sign waivers allowing probation to monitor his treatment, submit to random chemical screens, and stay away and have no contact with the victim of the threat.

Viscardi was arraigned at Wrentham District Court on April 17 after he was charged with threatening to commit a crime – to wit, kill after an April 15 incident with Foxborough selectman Mark Sullivan, according to court documents.

According to the state, Viscardi spoke with Sullivan on April 15 and became “extremely agitated.” The state claimed that Viscardi began screaming at Sullivan –the two men are neighbors – saying, if Sullivan did not change his vote on the casino proposal – after the Board of Selectmen opposed The Kraft Group and Wynn Resort’s plans for a casino off Route 1 in Foxborough – “he was a dead man.”

The prosecution said, the next day after the threat was allegedly made, Sullivan drove down Spruce Street – the street both men live on – and saw Viscardi wielding a hatchet and looking in his direction.

At the time of the April arraignment, defense attorney Jeffrey Waller, representing Viscardi, said his client "disputes the allegations."

"I do note that he's charged with a threat," Waller said. "This is obviously a sensitive issue, and his behavior has been despicable, but there's a question whether this rises to the level of a crime."

However on Thursday, Viscardi pleaded guilty to the charge.