Byfield pleads guilty to charges stemming from videotaped beating

A former strip club manager was sentenced to less than a year in jail yesterday after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the videotaped beating, robbery and kidnapping of a club patron last year.

Easton A. Byfield, 36, of Oxford, was sentenced to 364 days in the House of Correction with 3 years of probation to follow after entering guilty pleas yesterday morning in Worcester Superior Court to charges of assault and battery, unarmed robbery and kidnapping.

The crimes occurred May 25, 2010, in a men's room at the Platinum Premier Gentlemen's Club, 241 Southbridge St., but police did not begin an investigation until a videotape showing Mr. Byfield assaulting 25-year-old Patrick Blanchard of Sterling surfaced earlier this year on YouTube and other websites.

At one point on the videotape, which was uploaded to the Internet by another former club employee after he had a falling out with Mr. Byfield, Mr. Blanchard is seen being forced to kneel on the floor and pay homage to Mr. Byfield by reciting, “Oh great (expletive) brown dude. Oh great (expletive) brown dude.”

Read more at http://www.telegram.com/articl....e/20111116/NEWS/1111

Video by Dan Gould