Prosecutors said Eric Sideri beat Lou Oliveira with a baseball bat, punched him in the face and accused him of taking $21,000 from the restaurant.
WOBURN — A Tyngsborough pizza restaurant operator has been sentenced to four to five years in prison for assaulting an employee he accused of theft.
Eric Sideri of North Andover was sentenced Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court. He was convicted in February, when he was acquitted of a more serious kidnapping charge. A co-defendant prosecutors said was present at the time of the assault was found not guilty in the case.
Prosecutors said Sideri ambushed Lou Oliveira, a manager at Angela's Coal Fired Pizza in Tyngsborough, while he was working late in March 2009. Prosecutors said he beat Oliveira with a baseball bat, punched him in the face and accused him of taking $21,000 from the restaurant. Oliveira denied he stole any money, and authorities found there was no proof that he had.