Boston restaurant owner arrested again, accused of cutting GPS bracelet, "I'm tired and sick of it"
BOSTON - Patrick Mendoza, a controversial Boston restaurant owner, has been arrested again, this time for allegedly trying to cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet.
Mendoza, 55, is a co-owner of Monica's Trattoria in the North End. He was arraigned Monday afternoon, and prosecutors filed a motion to revoke his bail. The judge is expected to rule on that in a status hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Boston Superior Court.
"Definitely gonna kill somebody"
Mendoza had been out of jail since posting $10,000 bail back on May 1, several months after he was charged in a shooting in the North End last summer.
According to a Boston Police report, officers were called to an apartment on North Bennett Street late Saturday night and found Mendoza had allegedly tampered with his GPS tracking bracelet. Police said it "appeared to be cut."
"I do think this is sort of a situation where our jails are overcrowded," said legal analyst Jennifer Roman. "They got the alert that he clipped it off, and they reacted, and so the system worked, right? The GPS monitoring bracelet worked," she said.
When officers asked why he cut it, Mendoza allegedly told them, "I'm tired and sick of it."
Details of the incident were redacted in the police report, but officers said during the booking process Mendoza said he was "definitely gonna kill somebody," but that someone had kept him in a bedroom.
The report said that Mendoza is "extremely stressed" about his upcoming criminal case.
2023 North End shooting
Mendoza is already facing several charges in the July 2023 incident, including armed assault to murder, attempted assault and battery with a firearm and carrying a loaded firearm.
Prosecutors said Mendoza shot at a man outside of Modern Pastry on Hanover Street in the North End on July 12, 2023. No one was hurt in the shooting, which was recorded on surveillance video, but a bullet hit a window in the bakery. According to court documents, the man who was the target of the shooting said he's known Mendoza for about 20 years and there was an ongoing feud between them.
Mendoza was arrested at Gosnold Treatment Center in Falmouth, a substance abuse treatment facility, after nine days on the run. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mendoza appeared in court and was denied bail twice after a judge deemed him to be dangerous.
Monica's Trattoria
After the shooting, Monica's Trattoria remained open until Mendoza was arrested. The restaurant was then shut down by the city until a new manager was approved for the liquor license.
The restaurant asked the board to transfer the license to Amanda McQueen, who was unanimously approved. The restaurant has been up and running since. Mendoza's family owns several businesses in the North End.