Legal Question in Sexual Harassment in Massachusetts
Hello I had a romantic relationship with a man in 2008,2009, I was away for 2+ years and he kept phoning my mother, asking her how I w, He began writing to me once in a while I have known him as an acquiantence for 22 years, as he was my family's Karate instructor. When I returned home in May 2013,I did meet with him a few times to catch up and we talked about my divorce,We were quite open about all aspects of life.
However, things started to change and he kept asking me if my divorce money had been settled., Once a week he would ride for 2 hours ans arrive unannounced.
He began calling every day. His attitude changed completely and he began obsessed with me and my family,He has a history of domestic violence and he began intidating me about what he wanted from me. He called me 3-4 times a day during January 2014 asking for money.He then demanded 10 K dollars .
I said "no" He is an eigth degree black belt and a master at weaponry. He knows children and he threatened to harm me ,then my sons if I did not give him the money. One day in january , my mother and I were awakened by his arrival and she let him in for coffee, He took me aside and threatened me to get in his car, go to my bank ,and with draw 10K dollars ,(to be as follows-6k in money order, 4k in cash,He told me if I told anyone ,he would kill my oldest son first (that night) I was terrified and di as he asked,He took me home and left immediately with my money He took the copy of the money order and the receipt of he cash withdrawal and drove back to New Hampshire, He kept calling me pretending like everything was "fine" I told a friend and he told me to email this man and demand my money back immediately or law enforcement would get involved and this matter would go to another level. I am worried and then sent a certified letter ,which was a colpy of the original email I have not recieved any money and I stated that I wanted all my money returned by 3/1/2014.
Because he refused to sign any promissary note, ofrdocumentation for this laon ,and because I was so intimidated by his threats, I could not force him to sign anything .Now I have 2 issues, Firstly, can I do anything to get mey 10k back from him,with or without a lawyer, and his stalking ,harrassments and criminal threatening are very worriesome to me.all I have is a record of many texts and calls saved on my cell. I am beside myself as I am struggling finiancially and needed that money to survive ,Can you please help me .
1 Answer from Attorneys
There are a variety of legal options. If you dated the man, you could get a domestic violence restraining order - a so called 209A order, if you live in Massachusetts.
If you were not dating the man, you could get a harassment prevention order, under ch. 258E.
Most individuals under these circumstances would go to the police and secure their assistance in bringing criminal charges against this man. He might be charged with criminal harassment, stalking, threats, extortion, larceny and other crimes.
If criminal charges are brought against him, the court could order him to pay restitution if he were to be convicted.
You also could bring a civil lawsuit against this individual, although it seems that it might be unlikely that you could recover money on a civil judgment from such an unsavory person.
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