A 46-year-old man called Whole Foods Market in Darien a dozen times in one day asking to speak to his ex-girlfrend, an employee of the store, and became loud, rude and demanding when co-workers wouldn’t put him in touch with her, according to Darien police.
The man tried so many times over a period of days to talk with her by phone that Darien police were called in and eventually arrested him, police said.
Police described the situation with this account (including accusations not proven in court):
The ex-girlfriend of Floyd W. Gaines Jr. of Bridgeport said he would use profanity when talking to her and physically abused her. After she broke up with him, he would leave harassing calls and text messages with her.
She was afraid of him, she told police. Darien police found he has a lengthy criminal arrest record not only in Connecticut, but in New York and New Jersey as well. In January, a complaint against him was made in Bridgeport, where he was accused of threatening the victim’s neighbors.
At one point, Whole Foods Market, at 150 Ledge Road, received a call from a male using Gaines cell phone who said he was “Frank” and made an unsubstatioated claim about some prepared food he said he had received from the store.
Darien police sought and received an arrest warrant for Gaines. On Wednesday, March 23, Gaines was charged by Bridgeport police with third-degree assault (it is not known whether that case has any connection with his girlfriend). Darien police were informed that day that Gaines was at Bridgeport Hospital, where they served the arrest warrant.
Gaines was charged with second-degree harassment and second-degree stalking. He was held on $50,000 bond and appeared in state Superior Court in Stamford. His bond was reduced to $25,000 and he remains in jail. He is next scheduled to appear in Stamford court on April 26 and on April 1 in state Superior Court in Bridgeport.