Posted on 02/26/2004 6:26:20 AM PST by A. Pole
He was 17 and she was 14, but her father went to court to keep the sweethearts apart.
Now the young man's mother says her jailed son is being punished too harshly for simply following his heart.
Kevin Bucchio, 18, has been in the Billerica House of Correction since July for violating restraining orders obtained by the parents of his girlfriend, Colleen Lambert, 15, who has compared their plight to Romeo and Juliet.
``Kevin's never been in trouble. He's not a kid who does drugs or alcohol. He just thinks he's in love,'' said his mother, Sandra Bucchio.
Michael Lambert of Pepperell, Colleen's father, acknowledges he and his wife obtained the restraining orders primarily because they thought Bucchio was too old for their daughter and that he was trying to have sex with her, not because he harmed her.
``What would you do? I'm going to defend my daughter,'' Lambert said. ``I did exactly what the (Pepperell) police told me to and exactly what the court told me to.''
But Bucchio's lawyer, who characterized the teens' relationship as ``puppy love'' gone too far, said the maximum three-year sentence his client received is unfair.
``This is a misuse of the system,'' said attorney Matthew Pingeton, who took on Bucchio's case after the youth already was in jail. ``(Colleen) loved him. She wanted to be with him. She never wanted him kept away.''
Bucchio was 17, and Lambert was two weeks shy of her 14th birthday when they first met at the movies at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., in July 2002. Lambert's parents initially liked Bucchio.
``He came over to our house a couple times. Seemed like a nice kid,'' Michael Lambert said. ``I asked him his age, and he said, `15.' I figured she's almost 14. You've got to let the reins go a little bit.''
Sandra Bucchio also thought highly of Colleen Lambert.
``I always thought she was 16. They basically would go to the mall or they would go and get something to eat,'' she said.
Then the teens exchanged baby pictures, and Lambert's parents noticed Bucchio's birth year was 1985.
``The kid was lying to my face,'' Michael Lambert said. ``From there, we realized he was up to no good.''
Lambert telephoned Sandra Bucchio and said he feared her son was trying to steal his daughter's innocence. He said he did not sense the same level of concern from Sandra Bucchio.
Lambert ordered his daughter to stop seeing Bucchio, but Sandra Bucchio said the girl continued to telephone her son at odd hours of the night. The girl's parents eventually forbade her from using their phone or computer e-mail, but the pair found ways to rendezvous outside their homes.
Michael Lambert charged that Bucchio snuck around his house at night and slept in the back yard several times.
On the advice from a friend on the Pepperell police force, Lambert and his wife, Paula, went to Ayer District Court on Aug. 8, 2002, on behalf of their daughter and obtained a restraining order against Bucchio. The order was extended to a year, and the parents returned to court numerous times because Bucchio violated the order repeatedly.
At the same time, Lambert sent poems and notes to Bucchio with passages such as, ``All I could think was that I don't have nothing if I don't have Kevin! You mean everything to me hunnie (sic) and we will get through this. We have to! Romeo + Juliet!''
In July 2003, Judge Paul McGill sentenced Bucchio to 75 days in the Billerica House of Correction for failure to comply with the order. Within hours of landing in jail, Bucchio violated the order again, arranging to leave a phone message for the girl. He told her he did not blame her for his incarceration and wished her a happy 15th birthday.
As a result, McGill imposed a maximum two-year sentence that had been suspended for an earlier violation and tacked on another six months for the jailhouse transgression.
Court spokeswoman Joan Kenney said McGill could not comment on the case while it is in the process of being appealed by Bucchio and his lawyers.
Paul Martinek, editor of the Lawyers Weekly publications, said he was disturbed by the case.
``Certainly, on the surface, it strikes me an oddly harsh punishment without any evidence that (Kevin) did this girl any harm or evidence that he even threatened her in the first place,'' Martinek said, adding that judges tend to err on the side of caution and grant restraining orders.
``Judges are terrified these days of not issuing restraining orders for fear that something tragic is going to happen, and they'll find themselves on the front page of the Herald,'' he said.
Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, whose office handled the case, defended the sentence imposed by McGill, saying, ``A judge can't have a young man keep coming in front of him and essentially saying he's not going to obey the court's order.''
Meanwhile, Bucchio's mother constantly worries about her son's ability to cope behind bars.
``He's not street-smart. He's had a very rough time in there,'' she said, noting that another inmate beat him up. ``He's not a tough kid. I dread it every time I go up to visit him. Sometimes he makes the best of it; sometimes he's upset. I try to make him feel as good as I can.''
"my kids? i'm 17."
That explains allot ... .
Well that's good!
pervert troll eruption!
"nmh, are you nuts?"
No but I am wondering about you.
"These kids are infatuated with each other. 17 and 14? Big deal. The parents should be able to keep this under control."
Age 14 is a minor. My you are a cold person.
"God, I'd hate to be a kid in this nutty nation. The worst I ever had to contend with was a father sticking a shotgun out of his bedroom window."
You're an ADULT? It's no wonder the country is such bad shape, morally.
I'd love to know what e and colleen when through. Who the hell is "e?"
Farewell troll. I guess you didn't get enough zottage when you were "I KNOW HER" earlier today.
"p.s. the name-calling was uncalled for. just because i'm young doesn't mean i'm stupid."
Name calling? LOL! You were the one braging about your "equipment" as if that matters ... . I wouldn't be so sure about the later ... .
"you didn't have to be condescending. a lot of you are here i'm finding out. i came to learn and share. not be talked down to."
Maybe you should clean up your own act before you start pointing fingers. It appears you have a chip on your shoulder.
"are you going to chase all the young people away who believe in conservatism and the gop like you all believe in them? "
Huh? You don't sound like a conservative to me. So I don't see myself "chasing" anyone away. Besides if you are this thin skinned you won't be sticking around long.
"you're not going to live forever, you know. so why chase away the next generation of conservatives? "
I certainly don't plan on leaving my fate up to the likes of you or other wanna be conservatives. LOL!
"yeah, i was a little testy today cos i was home with the flu and felt like crap. for that i apologize. also for the sexophobe remark. but there were certainly better and nicer ways for you to set me straight than calling me an idiot and damning in advance kids i don't even have yet."
Don't worry about it. When you iniate name calling don't be surprised when people rise to the occassion and speak up. Maybe you should take your own advice. I also didn't "dam" kids you don't have.
In any event, I hope you feel better. If it's the kidn of flu I had it took two weeks to get over it. Hopefully you'll fare better.
Get some rest. Don't post when you're sick otherwise you'll say things you regret and some freepers have long memories.
Seventeen year old newbie with the flu... one he settles down he'll learn like everyone else.
hi my name is kevin bucchio,. you wrote some pretty
bad things a bout me and i dont appreciaite it .So you're the 18 YO in this article?
Welcome to FreeRepublic.com .....
Do you work for a bank in Nigeria?
They give you internet access in jail?
heh!
Or are you counting the zeros after the decimal point?
What's going on today with the rash of weird newbies?
They are watching you.....
How does one get internet access in jail? Hmmmm? Perhaps the mental hospital tested too many drugs on you today?
Don't know but they must be going through an awful dry spell!
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