A Lafayette police officer was arrested on suspicion of giving his ex’s new boyfriend a traffic ticket, keeping both under “surveillance” and damaging the hood of her car during an argument, according to police reports.
James Edward Stafford, 34, turned himself in Wednesday. He was arrested by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of harassment/stalking, official misconduct and criminal mischief related to domestic violence. The harassment count is a class 5 felony.
Because he’s charged with a felony, Stafford is on unpaid leave in accordance with Lafayette police policy. He was unreachable Thursday.
The ex-girlfriend, a manager at Sonic in Lafayette whose name wasn’t released, told police she met Stafford last summer and they had an on-and-off relationship. During part of that relationship, they lived together in her Broomfield apartment. For the last three months, the woman was dating a Sonic employee.
The official misconduct charge stems from the traffic ticket, issued July 23.
Stafford, while driving an unmarked Lafayette police truck equipped with warning sirens, gave the woman’s boyfriend a ticket for weaving. Stafford then sent the woman a text message that said, “Your boyfriend just received a ticket, ha ha,” according to the arrest affidavit.
Lafayette police have since cleared the ticket.
In an interview with police, Stafford said he pulled the man over after he swerved over the yellow line into the oncoming lane of traffic, believing the man might be drunk. He told police he didn’t know the driver was the new boyfriend until after he pulled the man over.
He also told police that he sent the text message to the woman because the two had become friends and he didn’t want her to be upset about the ticket.
Lafayette police weren’t able to recover video footage of the stop from the truck’s dash-mounted camera.
The other charges stem from various incidents.
Stafford tried to lure the boyfriend to the woman’s home, impersonating her in text messages, according to police reports. He also scared her by punching a pillow next to her head after accusing her of cheating, she told police.
In another incident, she told police she met Stafford and he started yelling at her in the street to “just hit me.” As she backed away in her car, she told police, Stafford jumped on the hood of her truck, denting the hood and breaking her bug shield.
In an interview with police, Stafford denied damaging the woman’s truck.
In June, the woman told police, Stafford called her boss at Sonic and told him to fire her because she was stealing money and dating an employee.
Last week, she told police, Stafford sent her text messages while she was at work that indicated he was watching her. This week, she told police, she found comments on his MySpace page that scared her, including that he’s “going to take matters into his own hands.”
The Sonic employee told police he recently quit because he feared retaliation from Stafford.
The employee said he was “terrified” after receiving a text message from Stafford stating, “I will find you,” according to police reports. The employee also said Stafford later followed him and confronted him about his relationship with the woman, with Stafford telling him, “I will be watching you like a hawk.”
Before receiving the traffic ticket, the employee told police, Stafford left a note on his car in an apartment parking garage warning that it would be towed if it wasn’t moved.
Stafford has posted a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and was released Wednesday. Police also took 13 guns from Stafford’s home for safe keeping, including rifles, pistols and a shotgun.
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