Man Is Accused of Violating Greenwich Woman's Order of Protection -- 51 Times

The friendship that a man had with a Greenwich woman ended years ago. But that apparently hasn’t stopped him from sending dozens of texts and emails to her and her family — violating a court order of protection, Greenwich Police say.

According to Greenwich Police, the man, who’s now 24, was arrested on Halloween and charges with 51 counts of criminal violation of a protective order.

“They (the victim and her family) tried to resolve the situation early on and first reported it to police in December 2013,” according police spokesman Lt. Kraig Gray. “He was notified by police several times to cease communication” with the victim, Gray said.

But apparently the suspect had other ideas and now stands accused of continuing to contact the woman and her family who live in the private waterfront enclave of Belle Haven. Gray declined to reveal the nature of the messages.

“It was an inordinate amount of text messages received,” Gray said. So Greenwich investigators applied for and received an arrest warrant on Halloween and arrested Colin J. Doherty of New York City when he appeared later that day in state Superior Court in Stamford.

Doherty already has a case awaiting disposition in court stemming from his previous arrest for second-degree harassment in connection with similar incidents with the victim. According to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website, Doherty was arrested by Greenwich Police on May 5, 2014. That arrest, police said, stems from the original report of harassment made by the victim and her family in December 2013.

Doherty was released after his Halloween arrest when he posted a $10,000 bond. According to police and the Connecticut Judicial Branch website, he was scheduled to appear Monday, Nov. 3.

Greenwich Police photo: Colin J. Doherty.

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