Domenic Albanese, the 19-year-old charged with multiple threats to fast food restaurants on Cranberry Highway in summer 2018, pled guilty to all charges and has been sentenced to two and a half years in the Dedham House of Corrections, followed by five years of probation.

For the three charges stemming from his three phoned-in threats to Wendy’s, Burger King, and McDonald’s, Albanese was sentenced to two and a half years in the House of Corrections. All the sentences will be served concurrently, and Albanese was given credit for the 335 days he has already spent in custody. 

For the charge of witness intimidation, Albanese was sentenced to five years of probation, beginning when he is released from the House of Corrections. The judge imposed a number of conditions that he must follow while on probation: Albanese must abstain from drugs and alcohol and submit to random tests, stay away from and avoid contacting the restaurants he threatened and his ex-girlfriend, who was the witness he intimidated, wear a GPS monitor, possess no firearms, and submit to a psychiatric screening and comply with treatment. Additionally, the judge ordered Albanese to find a place in a residential treatment program run by the Department of Mental Health and reside there for at least two years, at which point the condition could be reviewed by the courts. 

If Albanese violates the conditions of his probation, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years of incarceration.

The prosecutor, Vanessa Madge, had asked the judge for a sentence of six to eight years in state prison followed by five years probation.

Albanese was sentenced to the Dedham location at the request of his defense attorney because he has had trouble with other inmates who knew about the charges against him, and has spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement.

The judge said that he had weighed Albanese’s youth alongside a psychiatrist’s evaluation that he posed a risk to others. In her report, the psychiatrist noted that Albanese seemed to be at “particular risk for violence recidivism if released.” The judge said he believed that Albanese would do best in an environment with a lot of structure, which informed his sentence. 

Albanese’s sentencing ends a case that began when threats were called in to Burger King on July 29, 2018.

With no arrest in that case, subsequent threats were called in to Wendy’s and McDonald’s on Oct. 5, 2018.

Police were led to Albanese by Hayley Gallant, Albanese’s ex-girlfriend, who used to live with Albanese and his mother.

Gallant went to the Wareham Police Department on Oct. 4, 2018, to report that Albanese was responsible for the July 29 threat against Burger King. Gallant said Albanese told her he made the call because she had said she felt sick and didn’t want to work. After the threat, the restaurant closed for the day.

Gallant said Albanese made the October calls “just for fun.” 

Albanese allegedly threatened Gallant in an attempt to keep her from telling the police about the calls.

Albanese allegedly sent Gallant a Snapchat message inviting her to get on a Skype group chat for “false reported situations,” implying that he intended to call in more false bomb threats. 

Gallant took a screenshot of the message, which caused the app to alert Albanese that she had done so.

Albanese then called Gallant via video chat, which she also recorded. The prosecutor played the recording for the court. In the recording, Albanese can be heard, saying in part, “If you don’t delete the screenshot that you took of my story, it’s going to get bad.”  

Both Gallant and Damon Isom, an acquaintance of Albanese, said that he used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to hide his identity while making this kind of call.

During his initial arraignment in Superior Court, Albanese pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was ordered held after a dangerousness hearing on the same day.  

During that hearing, the prosecutor emphasized Albanese’s history in the criminal justice system and his allegedly escalating behavior.

According to court documents, Albanese has a history of making similar threats using his technical know-how to mask the origin of calls and emails. Incidents involving bomb scares and hacking reportedly started back in 2017, less than a year after Albanese’s own home was raided by a SWAT team. During the incident, police confiscated loaded weapons and arrested his mother, Lori. 

At the time of Albanese’s arrest in October 2018, two iPhones were seized and worked on by both Plymouth County High-Tech Evidence Analysis Team and the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, Albanese was on probation ahead of trial for other charges, and was not supposed to have access to any electronics.

The most high profile case he’s allegedly connected to happened on July 10, 2017, when police say Albanese sent an anonymous email to school officials.

“I have no cell service. I am hiding in one of the main storage rooms inside the school,” it read. “I will come out at a random time today and I will shoot and kill on sight. I am tired of life. I am tired of everything.”

In response, all Wareham schools were put on lock down as hundreds of police officers from multiple law enforcement agencies surrounded the Wareham Middle and High School. Students were evacuated to the Gleason Family YMCA. The threat was deemed a hoax later that day.

A second threat to Wareham schools followed on Dec. 11. Court documents state school officials received another anonymous email.

“This will be my final letter. I am hiding inside of your school with an explosive device that will detonate towards the end of the day,” it read. “I has a couple of explosive devices on 2 busses. Start searching.”

A student evacuation followed and police searched buses for the next two hours. They determined the email was a hoax.

No charges have been filed against Albanese or anyone else in those cases.

Albanese is also alleged to have called in a bomb threat to Bourne Middle School on Oct. 3, 2018. The school was put on lockdown as a result. Later on Oct. 3, court documents say two girls who knew Albanese told police that they spoke with him on Sept. 30. He asked them to have sex and after they said “no,” Albanese threatened to call in a fake threat to the school. 

Albanese has not been charged in relation with any of the school threats.