The Haverhill man who threatened to kill an eight-year-old girl during a White Street burglary attempt in February has been ordered to spend six to eight years behind bars, a judge ruled Thursday. As part of a plea deal, Warren Street resident Nathan Whittier will also serve a two-year probation term, District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett’s spokeswoman Carrie Kimball told WHAV.
He was indicted by an Essex County grand jury in May on a single felony count of unarmed burglary and assault.
As WHAV first reported in February, Haverhill Police sought the public’s assistance to identify the masked man later determined to be Whittier after he entered the home through an unlocked first floor window just after 5 a.m. on Feb. 3.
Court documents revealed Whittier left the little girl quite shaken. The girl told responding Officer Jordan Bergevine that Whittier asked, “’Do you want to die?’ while (he) put his hands around her mouth and nose. She stated he was wearing a baseball hat, a ski mask and a ‘flower’ bandana.”
In addition to the burglary indictment, Whittier was also indicted on 25 counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime for a rash of car break-ins in Haverhill’s Mount Washington neighborhood.
Court documents from last spring say Whittier engaged in an activity police call “car fishing” when he allegedly swiped items including jewelry, a firearm and ammunition, loose change, and even a birthday card from cars during a two-day spree in March.