Former teacher pleads not guilty to harassment, risk of injury charges

By LISA CAPOBIANCO
STAFF WRITER
Former Bristol Eastern High School physical education teacher Michael Archangelo pleaded not guilty last week to charges of risk of injury to a minor and second degree harassment.
Archangelo, who left Bristol Public Schools last December, appeared in Bristol Superior Court last Monday. In February, Archangelo surrendered to police on an arrest warrant, which was obtained as a result of an investigation of an incident involving him and a Bristol Eastern female student.
After Archangelo’s hearing, the court released six search warrants, which were used to search the cellphones of the 44-year-old former teacher and the student.
The search warrants include details of the student’s side of the case. According to the warrant, the student received several text messages from Archangelo via Facebook Messenger and iMessage between Friday, Dec. 11 and Monday, Dec. 14, 2015. Three screenshots of the girl’s cellphone were provided to police.
The search warrant stated that in these messages Archangelo asked the girl to send him pictures of her “butt.”
On Dec. 16, the student reported receiving those inappropriate messages to the school resource officer and the principal, the warrant said. That same day, the girl gave a sworn statement to police, explaining that Archangelo started calling her “trouble” earlier in the school year, but she did not know why. The former football coach also told the girl that she should come see him everyday at school to get advice from him, and she should stay away from older men, the warrant stated. He also told the student that if he didn’t have a wife and kids, she would be his type of girl, the warrant said. When Archangelo asked the girl to help paint a house he was fixing up, she never went to the house, the warrant said.
On Dec. 11, the girl received a message from Archangelo via Facebook Messenger that said “trouble, according to the warrant. When she responded “what,” Archangelo said he didn’t mean to send her the message, and that she should erase it, the warrant said. The student then deleted the conversation, but woke up the next morning receiving multiple Facebook messages from Archangelo. In one message, Archangelo asked the girl if the initials of any of the guys she liked were “M.A.” (Michael Archangelo’s initials), the warrant said. The other messages said the girl was going to get Archangelo into trouble, that Archangelo liked her “butt,” and that it was “hot” that they were both “doing this,” the warrant stated.
After Archangelo asked the girl to send him a picture of her “butt” via Facebook Messenger, he texted that he would not bother her anymore if she sent a picture. The student replied that she was at the mall with her friends, and Archangelo told her through a text to stop making excuses, and to send the picture, the warrant said. Through a Facebook message, the girl sent Archangelo a picture of her butt covered by underwear, the warrant said. Although Archangelo responded by asking the girl to send more pictures, she refused to, the warrant said. Then he texted the girl that he knew he put her in a bad situation, and was sorry.
But on Dec. 14, Archangelo sent the girl an iMessage asking her to see him at some point during the day. She replied “for what,” and Archangelo replied, “to apologize.” The girl responded, “Okay, I’ll see you before practice.” The former coach then said, “Not going to bug you anymore but if you need to talk about anything I’m here.” Later in the day, the girl met with Archangelo in his office at Bristol Eastern. Archangelo told her he was sorry and asked her not to tell anyone.
On Dec. 16, the girl’s parents declined to turn over their daughter’s cellphone to police or to give written consent authorizing police to conduct a forensic examination of the phone, the warrant said. The goal of the forensic exam was to recover the text messages exchanged between the student and Archangelo as well as the photo sent to him and any other digital evidence related to the investigation. But the girl’s father brought the cellphone to police the next day, giving written consent for the forensic exam. The data recovered from the phone is in the process of being reviewed, the warrant said.
On Dec. 18, Archangelo’s cellphone was seized through a search and seizure warrant. During the processing of his phone, information recovered showed that the phone was activated that same day, the warrant stated. Archangelo told police that the cellphone was brand new, and bought it some time that afternoon because the previous phone he used between Dec. 11 and Dec. 14 was stolen from his vehicle when he was visiting his lawyer in New Haven, the warrant said. Archangelo said he didn’t report the incident to police, and could not remember exactly where his vehicle was parked when his phone was stolen, the warrant said. He bought the iPhone 6S from the AT&T store in Southington. When he asked his lawyer if he should tell police that the phone seized from him on Dec. 18 was brand new, Archangelo said his lawyer told him not to bother because police would figure it out anyway.
Archangelo, who is free on a $10,000 bond, is due back in court on Apr. 15.