Man guilty of repeatedly violating restraining order

LYNN – A city man will serve four years in jail for repeatedly violating a restraining order and threatening an ex-girlfriend who said the defendant would call her sometimes up to 20 times a day.”He would make threats and then would call apologizing; he said he wanted to kill me several times,” the victim testified in Lynn District Court Thursday. “He would call 20 times in a row ? it got exhaustive.”Wilfredo Delacruz, of 99 Laighton St. #5, was convicted Friday by an Essex County jury on several counts of violating a restraining order and threats.His trial was held Thursday and Friday in Lynn District Court.Prosecutor Erin Bellavia opened the trial by telling the jury that the victim broke up with Delacruz in the spring of 2012 but that “was not acceptable to him.”Bellavia said the victim experienced “a four-month barrage of text messages and calls” in which Delacruz would “threaten to kill her, come after her and that he would take her before police came to take him.”But public defender Nathan Goldstein told jurors that there was no physical evidence proving that Delacruz made the calls and text messages.”I expect you will see no phone records, no photographs of the messages,” Goldstein said during his opening statement.The victim acknowledged during testimony that she had lost the phone on which the voice mails and texts were recorded. Moreover, she acknowledged that most of the calls were made from a private number and not from Delacruz’s usual number. Most problematic to the prosecution, however, was that the victim could not recall specific dates when the messages were received.”It was a long time ago?” the alleged victim answered when Bellavia asked why the alleged victim did not remember the specific dates she received so many calls and texts.Goldstein requested dismissing all the charges – which included 16 counts on 10 cases (each case representing a different date on which an alleged offense occurred) – because the alleged victim could not testify to specific events.However, Bellavia noted that witnesses, including the victim’s mother and police officers who documented the alleged incidents, testified to specific events on specific dates. Goldstein also referred to specific dates during cross-examination.As to the lack of physical records, the victim testified she was not instructed to bring cellphone records. Lynn Police officers James Daley and Joseph Chadbourne also testified they do not request phone records when filing reports on such complaints.Nevertheless, Lynn District Court Judge Stacey Fortes directed the jury to find Delacruz not guilty on three counts of threats, an individual count of stalking and an individual count of violating a restraining order, according to a spokesperson for Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett. Bellavia also requested to dismiss another count of violating an abuse-prevention order.But the jury convicted Delacruz on seven counts of violating a restraining order and a single count of threat to commit a crime, according to records.Fortes sentenced Delacruz to a total of four years in jail; with four one-year sentences to be served “on and after” the completion of the previous sentence, and three one-year sentences to be served concurrently, according to court records.