SEA ISLE CITY – A Sea Isle City local who assaulted Bob Kelly, the well-known Philadelphia television personality, at an island bar this summer was sentenced to three years’ probation Monday, Feb. 12, according to court records.
Patrick Iannone will also have to pay the Fox 29 host $5,000 in restitution, which he was ordered to make in $100 monthly payments, for pouring a beer on the traffic anchor and then punching him in the face, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Iannone pleaded guilty to third-degree aggravated assault in December 2023.
Kelly did not attend the sentencing hearing in Cape May County Superior Court but told the judge in a statement he submitted that Iannone deserved a harsher punishment to learn a lesson, noting that while he was still in the hospital recovering from the attack, Iannone, 22, was already released on a summons and back at the bar, according to the Inquirer report.
Kelly was emceeing a fundraiser at the Oar House Pub in Sea Isle when the unprovoked incident occurred on July 30, 2023. He still suffers symptoms caused by the assault – including vision problems, headaches, a possible concussion and a scar under his eye that might require plastic surgery – the traffic anchor wrote in a victim impact statement, according to the Inquirer.
Since being attacked, Kelly also wrote, he is uneasy while in crowds or hosting events, something he has to do regularly as part of his life and job duties, the Inquirer reported.
The bar attack left Kelly – who is omnipresent at Jersey Shore establishments, reporting live for Fox 29 or emceeing events – bleeding and unconscious and was witnessed by his daughter, who was at the Oar House, while his 11-year-old son was alerted to it by one of his friends, Kelly told the court.
It was not the first barroom brawl Iannone was involved in. He was charged following a different incident last summer at Sea Isle’s Dead Dog Saloon, in the early morning hours of June 4, 2023, court records show. In that case, Iannone pleaded the initial charges down to disorderly conduct, with the condition he could not return to the Dead Dog, records show.
He paid a $533 fine after the Dead Dog case was transferred to Lower Township Municipal Court, likely because Iannone’s mother is a former Sea Isle police captain.
Another alcohol-fueled offense in Tennessee was dismissed, according to Iannone’s attorney, John Tumelty, the Inquirer reported.
Superior Court Judge Christine Smith told Iannone now was the time to get his act together, according to reports, warning him next time he may not be so lucky to get probation and may leave out the courtroom’s back door, escorted by sheriff’s deputies to the county jail.
Tumelty told Smith that his client has depression and alcohol abuse problems and has spent time in treatment at inpatient facilities in three states since assaulting the TV anchor, where he is doing well, according to the Inquirer report.
Assistant Prosecutor Edward Shim told the judge Iannone is a “bully” and is “entitled,” noting he benefited from family support and resources many defendants do not have, according to the Inquirer, which also reported that Shim argued for a longer term of probation.
“He decided because he wasn’t happy, he was going to do something to somebody else,” Shim said, according to a report from New Jersey Advance Media. “To me, those are the worst types of people in our society.”
Although Kelly did not appear in court for the sentencing, he was active on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, Feb. 12. He was not talking about Iannone or the assault, however; instead he was Tweeting about snow-related school closings and sharing segments from Delaware Valley businesses that he frequently incorporates into his television reports.
Iannone told the court he wanted “to apologize to Mr. Kelly,” according to the Inquirer, adding, “I’m very sorry for what I did.”
