New London cop arrested for the fourth time
Julio Gil-Martinez, 29, appeared in Norwich Superior Court in a red prison-issued jumpsuit and handcuffs to answer to the latest felony charges — two counts of violation of a protective order.
The charges stem from a Waterford police investigation into allegations Gil-Martinez had contacted by phone and in-person his ex-girlfriend on March 14 and 15.
Gil-Martinez has been held at the Corrigan Correctional Center on a $250,000 bond since his third arrest on March 17 by city police on charges of first-degree stalking and violation of a protective order. In that case, police said Gil-Martinez had been in repeated contact with his ex-girlfriend and at one point showed up at her job in New London.
Norwich Superior Court Judge Patrick Caruso set a $100,000 bond in the new arrest, increasing the total bond amount to a combined $350,000. If Gil-Martinez posts bond, Caruso ordered that he be in '24-7 lockdown' at his New London home and monitored by a GPS bracelet. A domestic violence lethality assessment completed by the court places Gil-Martinez's ex-girlfriend in the 'high danger' category.
Defense attorney Erica Rodriguez said Gil-Martinez suffers from mental health issues. She applied to the court for Gil-Martinez's acceptance into the Supervised Diversionary Program. Gil-Martinez will undergo a mental health examination and the court will decide whether he is suitable for the program that involves mental health counseling. If Gil-Martinez is accepted into the program and successfully completes it, the court could dismiss the charges against him. He is due to appear again on June 4 in Norwich Superior Court for an update.
Caruso said in court Wednesday that there 'does appear to be a mental health component' to the case.
Hired by the New London Police Department in 2023, Gil-Martinez was first arrested on Nov. 16, 2024 for the alleged assault and strangulation of his girlfriend. Police said a fight apparently had started over Gil-Martinez's ex-girlfriend texting other men. The woman, police said, admitted she was married when the two started dating and had been seeing another man, but said she 'was was going to leave them both for (Gil-Martinez).'
During a fight with his ex-girlfriend on Nov. 14, 2024, police said Gil-Martinez grabbed the woman while she was trying to call 911 and pulled her into the basement of his apartment, where Gil-Martinez cut himself with a knife as part of a scheme to convince police she stabbed him during a domestic dispute. At one point in the basement, the ex-girlfriend said, Gil-Martinez told her they needed to make a video of her trying to stab him or 'we both die tonight,' the arrest report states.
Gil-Martinez has been on paid administrative leave and the subject of an internal investigation since his first arrest. He was charged with second-degree threatening, third-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree strangulation and interfering with an officer in that case.
Gil-Martinez was arrested again on Jan. 10 during another dispute with his ex-girlfriend at his New London home, where his ex-girlfriend admitted she was still staying despite the no contact order, police said.
In the latest case, police said Gil-Martinez's ex-girlfriend claims that she had seen Gil-Martinez on multiple occasions, including the evening of March 14, when she was at a residence in Waterford and spotted his SUV parked outside a neighboring home. The ex-girlfriend told police that she went outside to ask Gil-Martinez what he was doing there and he replied 'I just wanted to see how you were doing and I wanted to spend time with you,' police reports show.
'The Victim told (Gil-Martinez) he was being weird, and he needed a psychologist. The victim stated (Gil-Martinez) then turned around and left,' police reports show.
The ex-girlfriend also told Waterford police Gil-Martinez had driven slowly past a Waterford home where she was staying multiple occasions, including on March 15.
'On behalf of my client, Julio Gil-Martinez, I am respectfully requesting the media outlets and the community keep an open mind, as everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty,' Rodriguez said after court. 'Mr. Gil-Martinez deserves an opportunity to defend himself against the allegations asserted as said allegations are in dispute. I ask that judgment be reserved.'
Gil-Martinez is a Waterford High School graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Central Connecticut State University, according to his resume. He worked short stints at both the East Haven and West Haven police departments before he was hired in New London. In 2024 he was suspended for one day after being found in violation of the city and police department's harassment policies for unwanted advances toward a female colleague, records show. He was also ordered to attend workplace harassment training.
g.smith@theday.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Judge grants removal of GPS monitor for Robin Severance-Lopez
A Florida Judge has ordered that the GPS monitoring device on Robin Severance-Lopez be removed. Severance-Lopez currently faces accusations that her and estranged husband Marcos Lopez profited nearly a million dollars from the illegal gambling operation and allegedly helped to move $600,000 to $700,000. Robin Severance-Lopez submitted a request to remove her GPS ankle monitor while she awaits trial. The filing argued that the monitoring system imposed a financial burden on her, but also asserted she was not a flight risk. This is a developing story, and we will continue to update it as new information becomes available. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Solve the daily Crossword
NBC News
12 hours ago
- NBC News
Video shows Colombian TikToker Tatiana Martinez yanked from car during ICE arrest
A video posted on social media showed immigration agents yanking Colombian TikToker Tatiana Martinez from her vehicle during an arrest last week. Martinez was detained on Friday in Los Angeles while sitting inside her Tesla. She was streaming on TikTok when federal agents approached her vehicle, according to Newsweek. Footage shows three agents pull Martinez, whose real name is Leidy Tatiana Mafla-Martinez, out of the car and place her facedown on the ground as she screams. In another video, a person yells for someone to call 911 as Martinez lies motionless on the ground. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that Martinez was detained because of a prior conviction of driving under the influence in Los Angeles. McLaughlin said Martinez came to the United States in 2022 and "was RELEASED by the Biden administration." "Under President Trump and @Sec_Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences," Homeland Security said in a post on X. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the social media videos. During her arrest, Martinez complained about shortness of breath and was given medical treatment, McLaughlin said, and is being held at a facility in Calexico, California. It's not clear if she has obtained an attorney. Martinez gained followers on TikTok after posting videos documenting the ICE raids under President Donald Trump's push for mass deportations, Newsweek reported. She also shared guidance on what people should do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement stop them. McLaughlin said that as agents were detaining Martinez, another person "unlawfully towed a government police vehicle." "He mocked and videotaped ICE officers chasing after him. Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to impede law enforcement will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McLaughlin said.
3 days ago
Hijacked satellites and orbiting space weapons
WASHINGTON -- As Russia held its Victory Day parade this year, hackers backing the Kremlin hijacked an orbiting satellite that provides television service to Ukraine. Instead of normal programing, Ukrainian viewers saw parade footage beamed in from Moscow: waves of tanks, soldiers and weaponry. The message was meant to intimidate, and it was also an illustration that 21st century war is waged not just on land, sea and air but also in cyberspace and the reaches of outer space. Disabling a satellite could deal a devastating blow without a single bullet, and it can be done by targeting the satellite's security software or disrupting its ability to send or receive signals from Earth. 'If you can impede a satellite's ability to communicate, you can cause a significant disruption,' said Tom Pace, CEO of NetRise, a cybersecurity firm focused on protecting supply chains. He served in the Marines before working on cyber issues at the Department of Energy. 'Think about GPS,' he said. 'Imagine if a population lost that, and the confusion it would cause.' More than 12,000 operating satellites now orbit the planet, playing a critical role not just in broadcast communications but also in military operations, navigation systems like GPS, intelligence gathering and economic supply chains. They are also key to early launch-detection efforts, which can warn of approaching missiles. That makes them a significant national security vulnerability, and a prime target for anyone looking to undermine an adversary's economy or military readiness — or to deliver a psychological blow like the hackers supporting Russia did when they hijacked television signals to Ukraine. Hackers typically look for the weakest link in the software or hardware that supports a satellite or controls its communications with Earth. The actual orbiting device may be secure, but if it's running on outdated software, it can be easily exploited. As Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, someone targeted Viasat, the U.S.-based satellite company used by Ukraine's government and military. The hack, which Kyiv blamed on Moscow, used malware to infect tens of thousands of modems, creating an outage affecting wide swaths of Europe. National security officials say Russia is developing a nuclear, space-based weapon designed to take out virtually every satellite in low-Earth orbit at once. The weapon would combine a physical attack that would ripple outward, destroying more satellites, while the nuclear component is used to fry their electronics. U.S. officials declassified information about the weapon after Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, issued a public warning about the technology. Turner has pushed for the Department of Defense to provide a classified briefing to lawmakers on the weapon, which, if deployed, would violate an international treaty prohibiting weapons of mass destruction in space. Turner said such a weapon could render low-Earth orbit unusable for satellites for as long as a year. If it were used, the effects would be devastating: potentially leaving the U.S. and its allies vulnerable to economic upheaval and even a nuclear attack. Russia and China also would lose satellites, though they are believed to be less reliant on the same kinds of satellites as the U.S. Turner compared the weapon, which is not yet ready for deployment, to Sputnik, the Russian satellite that launched the space age in 1957. 'If this anti-satellite nuclear weapon would be put in space, it would be the end of the space age,' Turner said. 'It should never be permitted to go into outer space. This is the Cuban Missile Crisis in space.' Valuable minerals and other materials found on the moon and in asteroids could lead to future conflicts as nations look to exploit new technologies and energy sources. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced plans this month to send a small nuclear reactor to the moon, saying it's important that the U.S. do so before China or Russia. 'We're in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon,' Duffy said. 'To have a base on the moon, we need energy and some of the key locations on the moon. ... We want to get there first and claim that for America.' The moon is rich in a material known as helium 3, which scientists believe could be used in nuclear fusion to generate huge amounts of energy. While that technology is still decades away, control over the moon in the intervening years could determine which countries emerge as superpowers, according to Joseph Rooke, a London-based cybersecurity expert who has worked in the U.K. defense industry and is now director of risk insights at the firm Recorded Future. The end of the Cold War temporarily halted a lot of investments in space, but competition is likely to increase as the promise of mining the moon becomes a reality. 'This isn't sci-fi. It's quickly becoming a reality,' Rooke said. 'If you dominate Earth's energy needs, that's game over.' China and Russia have announced plans for their own nuclear plants on the moon in the coming years, while the U.S. is planning missions to the moon and Mars. Artificial intelligence is likely to speed up the competition, as is the demand for the energy that AI requires. Messages left with Russia's Embassy in Washington were not returned. Despite its steps into outer space, China opposes any extraterrestrial arms race, according to Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for China's Embassy in Washington. He said it is the U.S. that is threatening to militarize the final frontier. 'It has kept expanding military strength in space, created space military alliances, and attempted to turn space into a war zone,' Liu said. 'China urges the U.S. to stop spreading irresponsible rhetoric, stop expanding military build-up in space, and make due contribution to upholding the lasting peace and security in space.' Nations are scrambling to create their own rocket and space programs to exploit commercial prospects and ensure they aren't dependent on foreign satellites. It's an expensive and difficult proposition, as demonstrated last week when the first Australian-made rocket crashed after 14 seconds of flight. The U.S. Space Force was created in 2019 to protect American interests in space and to defend U.S. satellites from attacks from adversaries. The space service is far smaller than the more well-established services like the Army, Navy or Air Force, but it's growing, and the White House is expected to announce a location for its headquarters soon. Colorado and Alabama are both candidates. The U.S. military operates an unmanned space shuttle used to conduct classified military missions and research. The craft, known as the X-37B, recently returned to Earth after more than a year in orbit. The Space Force called access to space a vital national security interest. 'Space is a warfighting domain, and it is the Space Force's job to contest and control its environment to achieve national security objectives,' it said in the statement. American dominance in space has been largely unquestioned for decades following the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. But the new threats and competition posed by Russia and China show the need for an aggressive response, U.S. officials say. The hope, Turner said, is that the U.S. can take steps to ensure Russia and China can't get the upper hand, and the frightening potential of space weapons is not realized. 'You have to pay attention to these things so they don't happen,' Turner said.
