Sea Isle City ‘bully’ who punched Fox 29′s Bob Kelly has been sentenced to probation

A Sea Isle City man who punched Fox 29′s Bob Kelly in the face at a summer fundraiser was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay restitution.

Patrick Iannone, 22, was also given a warning Monday morning to address his alcohol and mental health issues, before it’s too late.

“You need to know, sir, that the next step for you, is out the back door to state prison,” Cape May County Superior Court Judge Christine Smith said.

Iannone was charged with aggravated assault after he poured a beer on Kelly and punched him in the face at the Oar House Pub in Sea Isle City on July 3. Kelly was at the bar emceeing a charity event for St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

Iannone stood in a dark blue suit, nodding at Smith’s stern words. Kelly did not attend the brief hearing.

“I want to apologize to Mr. Kelly and I’m very sorry for what I did,” Iannone told the court.

In a victim’s impact statement Kelly submitted to the court, the longtime traffic anchor said he continues to have vision problems, including “black spots that kind of make me think there’s a mosquito or a bug flying around.” Kelly said he suffers from headaches and a possible concussion too, and may need plastic surgery for a scar under his eye.

“There is a sense of uneasiness whenever I am at an event,” Kelly wrote, “or in a crowd, something that is part of my life and part of my job as a news anchor.”

Kelly said the blow left him bleeding and unconscious. His daughter was there and witnessed the attack.

“My 11-year-old son was at home, where he received a message from one of his friends, alerting him that his dad was punched and bleeding,” Kelly wrote.

Kelly spoke about the assault on Fox 29 shortly after it happened, calling it a “frightening, disturbing event” apparently incited by a TikTok challenge.

A month before Iannone punched Kelly, Iannone pleaded guilty to simple assault stemming from an incident at the Dead Dog Saloon in Sea Isle City. Prior to that, Iannone also had an alcohol-related offense while visiting a friend at the University of Tennessee that was, according to his attorney John Tumelty, dismissed.

Tumelty told Smith his client suffers from depression and alcohol abuse and has been to inpatient facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and California since the Kelly assault.

“He’s still going to counseling,” Tumelty said. “He’s doing very, very well.”

Assistant Cape May County prosecutor Edward Shim, in arguing for a longer probation term, described Iannone as “entitled” and a “bully.” Shim said many defendants in Iannone’s position “never had a chance,” walking into court with no family present or financial means.

Iannone had both, Shim said.

Iannone’s mother, retired Sea Isle Police Capt. Rosemary Milano, and his father, Joseph Iannone, sat, stoically, just a few feet behind their son. Iannone graduated from Ocean City High School and attended, but didn’t graduate from, colleges in Virginia and New Jersey.

Smith told Iannone he’d need to “dig deep” to turn his life around.

“You’re the only person who can do that,” she said.

Kelly, in his statement, said Iannone needed a harsher sentence to learn his lesson.

“I was still in the hospital bed,” Kelly wrote, “when the defendant was already out of the police station and back at the bar.”

Iannone, who told Smith he worked at a Sea Isle City department store, was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, in $100-a-month payments.