Sex offender convicted in Massachusetts sentenced to prison for touching furniture store employee

A Fall River Superior Court jury last week convicted a Plainville man of sexually abusing a furniture store employee in 2021, the office of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III announced.

David Puccio was convicted of sexual assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, Quinn's office said in a statement. Judge Susan Sullivan sentenced him to four and a half to five years in prison.

Puccio's sentence will begin after he completes a five-year prison sentence he began in December 2022 for violating probation in connection with a case of indecent assault and battery on a child in Norfolk County, Quinn's office added.

“I want to thank the jury for holding the defendant accountable,” Quinn said in the statement. “The defendant is a convicted sex offender who was on probation and wearing an ankle monitor when he committed this indecent assault.”

Puccio met with a saleswoman at Raymour & Flanigan in North Attleborough on Nov. 3, 2021, the statement said. He said he was looking for a bed for his mother and she spent about 45 minutes showing him the store. He did not buy anything.

She was escorting Puccio to the store exit when he touched her right thigh and upper buttocks with the palm of his hand without her consent, Quinn's office said.

“I'm sorry,” Puccio told her, according to Quinn's office. “I'm Italian, I walk with my hands.”

She asked him to leave the store. Puccio replied, “The furniture in this store is beautiful.”

“The defendant is a depraved individual who poses a danger to the community,” Quinn said in the statement. “The victim or anyone else should not have to put up with this depraved behavior. I am pleased that the court has sentenced the defendant to the maximum sentence in addition to the sentence he is currently serving. He deserves it.”