Assault on Officer Gets Hopatcong Murderer 4 More Years in Prison

Giuseppe Tedesco, sentenced to 70 years in prison for murdering Alyssa Ruggieri in 2010, was sentenced to an additional four years after breaking a Sheriff’s officer’s leg during a courtroom fight.

According to njherald.com, Tedesco, 29, of Hopatcong was sentenced in State Superior Court in Morristown Monday by Judge Stuart Minkowitz.

Tedesco murdered Ruggieri in her Hopatcong home in March 2010 after she rejected his romantic advances, shooting her six times at close range. When Tedesco’s guilty verdict was returned in January 2013, he told Ruggieri’s brother, Devin, he was “next.”

At that point Tedesco was restrained to a holding cell where a fight with Sheriff’s officers ensued. During the scuffle, one officer suffered a minor concussion and broken leg.

Tedesco was charged with third-degree aggravated assault on a corrections officer, third-degree terroristic threats and obstruction of a governmental function, and a disorderly persons offense, njherald.com reported.

Tedesco pleaded guilty on July 8 to third-degree resisting arrest, and received credit for 574 days served, the report said. His murder conviction comes with a provision that he must serve 85-percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.