Crime & Safety
Suspended Police Officer Takes Stand in Cyber-Harassment Trial
Barrington Sgt. Joseph Andreozzi testifies denies charges that he harassed his ex-wife with threatening text messages and impeded State Police investigation.
The suspended Barrington police officer on trial in Superior Court for allegedly harassing his ex-wife with text messages and obstructing the investigation by the RI State Place took the stand Wednesday, July 17, and denied the allegations.
Sgt. Joseph Andreozzi testified that he did not threaten to injure his ex-wife, Christine, and never intended to interfere in the investigation when he deleted information from the cell phone seized by the State Police, according to the Providence Journal.
Andreozzi responded to questions from his attorney, John Harwood, about two messages in particular.
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“Die” did not mean he wanted her dead, Andreozzi testified, who said his ex-wife and children still mean a lot to him. He still gets involved in family activites and voluntarily pays extra child support, he testified.
A second text, which said his ex-wife was “dead in my eyes, just like my two sisters,” referred to how he feels toward his two sisters, who allegedly were never involved in his deceased parents’ lives, even when his father was in hospice care.
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The information Andreozzi wanted deleted when State Police seized his cell phone on the day he was arrested, Aug. 30, 2013, was all personal, he testified, including notes from his psychiatric visits for stress, email messages from his daughters and confidential health information, and personal photos of his ex-wife.
Andreozzi also said he was led to believe the State Police would take photos of the text messages and return his phone after he was taken to Superior court for arraignment on that same day. That did not happen and State Police testified that there was never an agreement with Andreozzi to take photos of the texts.
Harwood also pursued a line of questioning to show that the sergeant was well aware through his years as a Barrington police officer and detective that the State Police could obtain the text messages from the phone company no matter what he did. The State Police, in fact, did get the texts from Verizon.
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