Ex-Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad agrees to plea deal after shooting at deputies
Ex-Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad has agreed to a plea deal that will send him to state prison for three years, allowing him to avoid the potential life sentence he faced for firing on Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies serving a search warrant at his waterfront home in February 2019.
Massad, 70, will plead guilty to lesser criminal charges next week. The plea deal was revealed by his defense attorneys and prosecutors during a virtual court hearing Friday.
The raid was part of an investigation into allegations that Massad, a former doctor who lost his license decades ago, was still practicing medicine without a license. But during the raid, sheriff’s officials said Massad fired on the SWAT team, though no deputies were hurt.
He was charged with five counts of attempted murder, as well as a weapons offense and a count of resisting arrest, in connection with the shooting. The practicing-medicine investigation also yielded several charges.
In June 2019, Massad was convicted by a jury of obstruction of justice and unlawful use of a two-way communications device. That stemmed from an incident that took place after his February arrest, when he was recorded in a jailhouse phone call plotting to target a Port Richey officer involved in the unlicensed practice of law investigation.
Next week, Massad plans to plead guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, the weapons offense and the resisting arrest charge in the attempted murder case, according to Massad’s attorneys and Pinellas-Pasco Assistant State Attorney Bryan Sarabia.
In exchange, Massad will be sentenced to three years in prison, and the state will drop the four remaining attempted murder charges.
He’ll also plead guilty to three charges of practicing medicine without a license and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device, said statewide prosecutor Rita Peters, who handled that case. Four other charges will be dropped. The deal will also carry a three-year sentence, which Massad will serve at the same time as the other charges, followed by 10 years of probation.
In Friday’s hearing, Massad, his attorneys and the prosecution all appeared via Zoom. Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge Mary Handsel said the plea must officially be conducted in person.
That is scheduled to take place Wednesday in the West Pasco Judicial Center in New Port Richey. The judge and attorneys will appear in person in the courtroom and Massad will participate via video from the Pasco County jail.
