UPDATE: This case was dismissed by a judge in November 2021; For that reason, Darienite has removed the man’s name.
A 58-year-old ex-boyfriend is accused of repeatedly showing up on the property of his former partner in Darien, sleeping on her porch and, on one day last week, texting her 400 times and calling her 75 times, police said.
He had been arrested twice before in domestic incidents in Norwalk two years ago, according to news reports. He has been a coach of paddle tennis teams and tennis teams at Darien High School as well as other area schools and country clubs.
Darien police described what happened with this account, including accusations not proven in court:
At 12:41 a.m. on Wednesday, June 6, the ex-girlfriend called police from the home of a friend and said her ex-boyfriend was on her property, possibly walking around her home.
When police went to speak with her, she told them she had been trying to end her relationship with him since Memorial Day, and he had repeatedly come to her home uninvited.
That evening, she had been in New York City with friends, and when she returned home, she saw his vehicle parked in her driveway, she told police. She went to her friend’s home and called the police because she felt unsafe, she said.
She said the ex-boyfriend had sent her numerous unwanted texts. She let officers see her phone, which showed that on June 5, he slept on her porch, uninvited, and texted her 20 times; and on June 6, he sent her 400 text messages and called her 75 times. He was verbally abusive in many of the texts.
The ex-boyfriend indicated that he’d taken voyeuristic photos of the two of them and has threatened to reveal the pictures, she told police.
Police found the ex-boyfriend’s vehicle in a wooded area near the woman’s home, although he wasn’t in it. As police searched for the man, the victim informed them that he had texted her, telling her that he was walking home.
Officers found him about a quarter mile away from the victim’s home and spoke with him. He told them that he and the woman had been in a dating relationship for the past two years and he was unsure why she would have called police. He said he wasn’t aware of having committed any wrongdoing.
The ex-boyfriend answered questions in an evasive manner, saying he called the victim about 30 times to find out where she was. When police asked him to confirm that by showing them his phone, he declined.
He said that he often parks near the victim’s home, sleeps on her porch and throws pebbles at her bedroom window so she would know he’s there.
Police arrested the ex-boyfriend, charging him with second-degree stalking and second-degree harassment. He was later released on a $1,500 bond. He appeared in state Superior Court in Stamford on June 7, and his next court date is July 12.
Previous Charges in Norwalk
The man was charged by Norwalk police with criminal violation of a protective order, second-degree breach of peace, interfering with a 911 call and risk of injury to a minor in August 2016, according to the Norwalk Hour.
On Aug. 29, he was charged with disorderly conduct when, police said, he was yelling at someone outdoors on Cottontail Road, where he lived at the time. One of the conditions of his release from custody was to have no contact with the other person involved in the incident, according to the report.
The next day, the Hour reported: “Police said that while at the home, [the man] attempted to take custody of a juvenile, entered into a verbal altercation, and when the complainant attempted to call 911, [he] grabbed that person by the shoulder in an attempt to take the phone. A witness corroborated the complainant’s story.”
The Hour reported his age as 10 years earlier than the man with the same name arrested last week in Darien, but online voter records show that the man, formerly of Cottontail Road, was born the same date as the one arrested last week.