Cops Didn't Think Arlia a Threat
By Richard Lewis, Associated Press Writer
Originally published by The Associated Press, March 15, 2002
COVENTRY, RI (AP) — Russell Arlia was well known to police in Coventry.
He'd run afoul of the law several times for repeatedly harassing Barbara Lombardi with obscene phone calls, by trashing her car and threatening her daughter.
But when a hearing before a bail commissioner was held last weekend to consider whether he should be released after being arrested for stalking her yet again, police said they didn't consider him violent despite his history, which included a prior bail violation.
Police said yesterday they didn't think Arlia posed enough of a threat to warrant calling the Attorney General's Office over the weekend to intervene and keep Arlia in jail until a court hearing could be held this week.
"He had never been violent toward her. He was never arrested for assaults against her," Capt. Walter Hennessy, the prosecuting officer in the case, told The Associated Press. "Given all that, we didn't see a need to contact the attorney general over something like that."
Arlia was released Saturday on $500 bail. Less than three days later, police say, he showed up at Lombardi's home, exchanged shots with an officer, then broke into the home. By the time police got inside, Lombardi and Arlia were dead from gunshot wounds.
The murder-suicide has stirred calls for an examination of how domestic abuse victims should be protected.
In Arlia's case, a victim advocacy group says police should have sought to detain him, even though he had yet to lay a hand on Lombardi.
"I think it's outrageous for someone to look at this case and say it's not domestic violence because there wasn't an assault," said Deborah DeBare, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition against Domestic Violence. "One of the most determining factors in assessing risk is someone who disregards the law, someone who disregards his no-contact order, who disregards his probation. These are all red flags, and to me they send out a greater warning than one, single act of violence."
Arlia's attorney, Lise J. Gescheidt, did not return telephone messages left Wednesday and Thursday.
Court records show Arlia being arrested several times for harassing Lombardi, only to be sentenced mostly to probation—or to have court hearings postponed because he'd been diagnosed with leukemia and was undergoing treatment.
Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse would not comment on whether Coventry police should have contacted his office. However, he said he is investigating the matter. His spokesman, Jim Martin, said the office has a prosecutor on call in every community and a pager number for any legal emergencies.
"Our prosecutors will tell us it is not uncommon for them to be contacted after hours," Martin said. "There is a wide range of reasons they would or could contact the office."
Albert DeRobbio, a Providence County District Court judge who oversees the state's bail commissioners, said Arlia could have been detained until a hearing was held in court.
"Judges are available all the time, days and nights of the week," he said. "There's a little more work, but it could be done."
By Monday, police had changed their mind about Arlia, who began harassing Lombardi a year before their divorce became final in December 2001. They were married for less than three years.
Hennessy petitioned Kent County District Court Judge Patricia D. Moore to arrest Arlia for violating his bail terms from making threatening phone calls to Lombardi in late October. He also felt Arlia—who had one case continued for months because of the leukemia—was well enough to appear in court after his weekend arrest.
Monday night, police sought to protect Lombardi. A patrol went by her suburban house three times between midnight and when Arlia was spotted on the property around 2 a.m., Coventry Police Chief Brian O'Rourke said.
"Once the officers realized he had made bail and was out over the weekend, they thought it would be prudent to stay outside the house hoping to catch him for all the harassing he had been doing," Hennessy said.
Arlia wasn't caught in time though. Lombardi, 54, leaves behind a son, a daughter, and two grandchildren.
"They're just devastated," said Clinton Poole, Lombardi's attorney, refusing to comment further until given permission by her children.
