The president of the Fall River City Council is facing Westport charges that she harassed a Westport woman, using a 'burner' cell phone application to cover her tracks, misled police and attempted to intimidate a witness in the wake of an extra-marital affair gone bad.

Pamela S. Laliberte-Lebeau, who was elected to the city council seven years ago and chosen as president in January, was charged by Westport police last Thursday, August 25, with criminal harassment, making annoying telephone/electronic communications, and felony intimidation of a witness (the husband).

According to Westport police records filed in Fall River District Court last week, police were contacted by a married Westport couple over the summer, who complained  that since April, the wife had been receiving troubling telephone calls alleging the husband was having an affair.

"According to the victim ... these phone calls and text messages have continued throughout the months," Westport detective Turner K. Ryan wrote in his report submitted to the court.

"I was informed this individual even contacted (the victim) at her place of work, which is extremely disruptive and has since impacted her work performance."

The complainants provided police with the number used in Laliberte-Lebeau's first contact with them, and a subsequent computer analysis showed they had been generated by an app, 'Burner,' which when purchased allows users to make phone calls, and send text messages and photographs, from a number "which typically cannot be traced to a(n) individual's primary or real phone number," Detective Ryan wrote.

In addition, the husband provided police with screen shots and images of missed calls, text numbers and at least six separate telephone numbers.

On Friday, July 22, Detective Ryan submitted a search warrant to retrieve records from the application's developer, and a week was able to obtain the subscriber's phone number. It was subsequently traced to Laliberte-Lebeau, who works as a realtor in the South Coast area.

After identifying the council president as the owner of the phone number, police contacted the victim's husband and asked if he had had any issues at work that would explain the harassment, as he too serves as a realtor.

He "stated no, but since he recently started a real estate business relationship with a high profile person, he thinks this could be the cause of the harassment. (The husband) named this person without me mentioning her name," Detective Ryan wrote.

"According to him, Laliberte-Lebeau often helped him and his business partner locate properties and would give Laliberte-Lebeau the listing when they went up for sale.

The husband told police that Laliberte-Lebeau's increased posts on Facebook with their real estate company could have been the cause of this," Detective Ryan wrote.

After speaking to the husband, Detective Ryan requested a search warrant for Laliberte-Lebeau's cellular phone, and was granted a warrant on Friday, August 5.

Nobody's home?

The following week, detectives attempted to surveil and serve a warrant at a previously listed address for Laliberte-Lebeau, on Osborn Street in Fall River, and at her place of business. After additional investigation, they determined her new address to be on New Boston Road, Fall River, and subsequently found her car there.

Officers rang the door bell, sounded a police cruiser's air horn, and made several attempts to contact her by phone. A Fall River police officer who lives nearby was also on the scene, and he was able to get her on the phone, Detective Ryan wrote, but in a phone conversation with him she allegedly said she was not home. The officer handed his phone over to Detective Ryan, and "I told her that I know she is home."

After she again denied being home, "I then told (her) that since I knew she was not being cooperative ... I would leave an officer here and return with a new search warrant with her new address on it."

Meanwhile, a detective who remained at the address reported back to Ryan that he saw Laliberte-Lebeau leaving the property via the back stairs. He presented a copy of the search warrant to her, asked her where her phone was, and was told that it was still in the apartment.

The officer "informed her that if she attempted to delete or destroy any evidence ... she would be charged with an additional offense. Ms. Laliberte-Lebeau then agreed she would get her phone."

Alleged admission

A short time after police seized the phone, Laliberte-Lebeau arrived at the station, where she was read her Miranda rights and agreed to speak to officers.

"During the interview, (she) confessed and admitted to the entirety of the incidents," Detective Ryan wrote. "She told investigators that she had downloaded the 'Burner' app in early May, and used it to call the victim numerous times over the ensuing months, using several different throw-away numbers.

"Ms. Laliberte-Lebeau claims this was due to having an affair with (the) husband ... with whom she also had a business relationship. She decided to start sending the texts and calls, she said, after another co-worker also began sleeping with the husband, "which made her jealous" and she wanted to make the wife aware of her husband's infidelity.

After the interview, Westport police sent the phone off for a forensic audit, which was performed by the Seekonk Police Department.

Police dig deeper

On Wednesday, August 17, Westport police received a full forensic report back from Seekonk, which included facts that "solidify the case," Detective Ryan wrote.

"Ms. Laliberte-Lebeau even has numerous conversations with (the husband) in which she pretends the suspect is not her and even offers to contact the chief of the Fall River Police Department to help trace the number."

In addition, the Internet web search history on her phone contained searches for "How to trace a phone call?", "Can you sue your spouse's lover," "anonymously tell someone their spouse is cheating," "How long does it take for cops to trace a fake Facebook account," "What are the laws on burner apps for smartphones," "when can police get a court order for burner app," and others, including web searches of the wife's name.

Also included in the audit were transcripts of cellular conversations between Laliberte-Lebeau and a woman (unnamed in this story), in which the two spoke about the incident and discussed how to deal with it. Though Detective Ryan's narrative does not make clear who sent which messages, several appear to have been written Laliberte-Lebeau.

"I'm still salty and want to tell his wife," one of the two wrote. "It's a weird aggressive feeling. Like f*** her, who does she think she is. And f***him. And worst of all, I don't even like him that much. It's about winning."

In one exchange that appears to be written by the other woman, the woman said that "you'll keep getting ELECTED if you make better (male anatomy) CHOICES.

"YOU keep REIGNING OVER THE CITY — LIFE IS GOOD," she wrote. "I can see the headline now: 'I just wanted to tell the wife, he wasn't even that good,' Wait I do have one other thing that popped up on my calendar. Marriage to ruin at 10:45."