Crime & Safety

Taunting Text Leads to Arrest of Suspected Window Smasher

The Middletown Police Department reported the following arrest.

A Newport man who allegedly smashed car windows and then texted the owner about it afterward was arrested Friday morning.

David Barber, 24, of 14 Grafton St., Newport, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of vandalism on Friday around 9:53 a.m. The Middletown Police Department reported that Tiverton police made the arrest based on the outstanding charge against Barber.

According to the arrest report, the arrest stemmed from an incident involving smashed car windows on April 11 that had been reported by a resident at 6B Woolsey Road. The owner alleged that he heard his car alarm and observed Barber smashing his windows with a metal object while another man stood nearby as lookout.

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When the car owner yelled at the suspects, the two men ran to a nearby red SUV and sped off, he told police. The victim also alleged that he received a phone call and two texts from Barber just before and after the windows were smashed.

The text sent to him immediately following the incident read, “With all your money you can buy new windows,” according to the police report.

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Barber was dating the victim’s ex-girlfriend, according to the arrest report.


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