Closing arguments are expected to be made today, July 19, in
the trial of a suspended Barrington police officer charged with harassing his
ex-wife with text messages and obstructing the investigation by the RI State
Police.
Sgt. Joseph Andreozzi was on the stand in Superior Court
again on Thursday. His 16 years as a police officer were brought up to bolster
his defense of using a software program purchased at the Verizon store on
Waseca Avenue in Barrington to delete the text messages from his cell phone,
according to the Providence Journal.
Andreozzi said he assumed that the State Police would get the
messages from his former wife’s cell phone based on his experience in law
enforcement. His attorney, John Harwood, said that the sergeant also knew that
the State Police could get the information from other sources, such as Verizon.
Andreozzi said a day earlier that he “wiped” his phone while
it was in State Police custody to delete other personal information, such as
personal photos and emails and psychiatric records, that he did not want in the
hands of the investigators.
“I knew that by wiping out my phone, that Verizon still had
my information,” he testified.
Andreozzi said he was worried that the State Police would go
on a so-called “fishing expedition” and, perhaps, pass around this confidential
information stored on his phone.
Prosecutor Stephen Regine countered that Andreozzi should
not have assumed that the State Police would fish around on his phone as a
reason for deleting the so-called harassing text messages. He also asked
Andreozzi if he had ever had a defendant in a case delete the contents of a
phone; the sergeant’s response was that he had not.
Andreozzi also said he did not think wiping the phone at a
friend’s house on the day he was arrested and arraigned, last Aug. 30, with a
Verizon store employee’s assistance was a big deal. He saw it as protecting his
personal information while knowing that the State Police could get the text
messages to his former wife elsewhere.