Fotis Dulos pleaded not guilty to murdering his missing wife and got slapped with a stricter form of home confinement Thursday for meddling with her memorial.
A Connecticut judge yanked a condition of his release that allowed him to leave his Farmington house for pre-approved outings related to his job as a luxury home builder.
Stamford Superior Court Judge Gary White agreed with prosecutors that Fotis violated a court order when he got out of his vehicle on common property outside his mansion and dismantled the memorial to Jennifer Farber Dulos last Friday.
“If he doesn’t like a memorial that’s been set up by his house, he can speak with others to help him deal with that,” the judge said.
“What he did was stupid. Don’t do it again,” White scolded as he issued a stern warning that another violation of any kind could lead to a doubling of Fotis’ $6 million bond.
It was the second time Fotis has been chastised for breaking the terms of his release.
He was reprimanded in September for not keeping his ankle monitor properly charged while free on $1 million bond related to prior charges of evidence tampering and hindering prosecution.
Before the Thursday hearing, State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo filed a motion asking the court to review Dulos’ latest bond conditions.
“Mr. Dulos is on the edge of what he has the right to do in following the court’s order,” Colangelo said in court Thursday.
“I would like you to remove that work condition, your honor, or if you’re going to leave it, to make it perfectly clear to Mr. Dulos what he can and can’t do, in clear black and white language he can understand, so when he leaves here, he’ll know that, ‘Hey, I shouldn’t have made this stop.’ It shouldn’t be that hard, but apparently it is,” Colangelo said.
Defense lawyer Norm Pattis tried to play down the significance of the unauthorized stop, saying it was a minor technical violation during a day when Fotis had permission to leave his house.
“This isn’t a memorial to Jennifer, it’s a means of taunting Mr. Dulos,” Pattis said in court. “He removed a few items that were taunting him.”
Pattis argued that Dulos is facing financial woes and desperately needs to work.
“He’s a real estate developer, and the sale of one home will right a faltering financial ship for him,” Pattis said. “I think a stern admonishment from the court would be sufficient.”
Jennifer was 50 years old when she vanished in Connecticut on May 24, amid an acrimonious divorce and child custody battle with her husband.
She was last seen dropping the couple’s five children off at their school in New Canaan.
