Aug 15, 2017 3 min read

CARMICHAELS – A Crucible man charged with threatening to give another man AIDS is facing a new charge of aggravated assault following his preliminary hearing Monday before District Judge Lee Watson.

Joseph R. Bellis, 26, of 218 Third Ave., was charged in June with terroristic threats, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and harassment after a fight with his neighbor.

The neighbor, James Black, testified in court Monday on the afternoon of June 9, Bellis was speeding down his road while there were children playing outside in the area. Black said he followed Bellis’ vehicle in his truck down the street to Bellis’ residence in an attempt to confront him about his speeding.

“My point wasn’t to be physical,” Black said in court.

Black testified Bellis was in his vehicle and about to leave when Black started taking pictures of Bellis and his license plate. That’s when Bellis allegedly started slapping Black and spitting on him, breaking his glasses and Bluetooth phone earpiece, Black said in court.

“It was a constant spitting with him from the moment he stopped the vehicle,” he said.

Black said when he reached in the vehicle to try to stop Bellis from hitting him, Bellis’ brother, James Bellis, came out of the house, put his arm around Black’s neck in a headlock, and tried to pull him back.

Joseph Bellis then turned sideways in his vehicle and began to kick out the window, striking Black in the face multiple times, according to Black’s account.

“I never touched him until he smacked me in the face,” Black testified. “I told his brother, ‘You got to get off me because I’m starting to get angry.’ As soon as his brother got off me, I walked away.”

As Black was walking away with a bloody scratch on his arm, Bellis allegedly told him he “is going to have AIDS now and is going to die,” according to Black’s testimony and the criminal complaint.

“That statement really done me in mentally,” Black testified. “I was so irate at that comment.”

Black told the court he was tested for AIDS after the incident and he does not have the virus, but he will have more testing done in six months.

In court, Greene County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Lock asked for the charge of aggravated assault to be added, since the criminal complaint and Black’s testimony showed Bellis was attempting to cause serious bodily harm. Watson held Bellis for trial on all charges and set his formal arraignment for 9 a.m. Aug. 28. James Bellis had been cited for harassment for allegedly putting Black in a headlock, but that was dropped Monday during the hearing after James Bellis apologized.

“I was just trying to break a fight up,” James Bellis told Black in court. “I’m sorry. If I had known he was kicking you, I would have let go.”