Former NHLer William "Billy" Tibbetts has been released from prison after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal harassment against Scituate (Massachusetts) Police Chief Michael Stewart and Stewart's sister, Kathleen Murphy. His 58 days in prison have been counted as time served, and he is under probation for the next two years.
As part of his release, Tibbetts is ordered to have no contact with the victims or their families and to refrain from posting about them on social media. He also must abide by the harassment prevention order, complete violence risk assessment and complete a mental health evaluation.
Tibbetts was arraigned in Hingham District Court on June 19 on these two counts, and at that time was released on $2,000 cash bail and ordered not to have any contact with Stewart, his sister, and their families. This included not posting on social media about the Stewarts or the case.
Tibbetts violated the conditions of the agreement for his release by continuing to post on social media, this time on Instagram rather than Facebook, about the Stewarts, and he was arrested at his home in July. He plead guilty to this charge as well as violation of the harassment prevention order.
During his arraignment in June, Tibbetts was removed from the courtroom following an outburst and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation at Bridgewater State Hospital.
These incidents stem from Tibbetts' claims that he has been harassed by the police chief dating all the way back to a statutory rape charge that Tibbets was convicted of back in the 1990s. In 1994, Tibbetts plead guilty to statutory rape, based on a 1992 interaction between a 17-year-old Tibbetts and a 15-year-old girl. His sentence was suspended for 42 months. These were not the end of his legal troubles, however. In 1995, while on probation for the statutory rape case, Tibbetts was convicted of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (a BB gun), disorderly conduct and witness intimidation. As a result, he served 39 months in prison. The sentence on the assault and battery charges was 30 months, but it would be served concurrently with the previously suspended sentence for rape. As a result of the convictions, Tibbetts had to register as a sex offender and could not play games in Canada. Tibbetts was also arrested in August, 2007 for leading police on a high-speed car chase, not long after having led police on a different high speed chase earlier in 2007.
Tibbetts played a total of 82 games in the NHL, with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers between 2000 and 2003. He also played 122 games in the AHL and 135 in the ECHL.
Source: Wicked Local
