Bodybuilding ex-firefighter faces new charges

(Photo by Todd Ganci)

Arroyo flexed his muscles during the May bodybuilding championship in Marlborough.

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff

Former Boston firefighter and bodybuilder Albert Arroyo is back in jail today after Suffolk County prosecutors charged him with violating a restraining order for the second time in two months.

A West Roxbury District Court judge revoked his bail on the first charge after prosecutors said Arroyo repeatedly called his former girlfriend and her family between Nov. 14 and 16, officials said.

The former girlfriend had taken out a restraining order Oct. 28 barring Arroyo from contacting her or her family, and he was arrested and charged with violating that order on Nov. 4 after the former girlfriend reported seeing him lurking outside her house.

He had been free on bail awaiting trial on that charge when the most recent violation occurred, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

The former girlfriend said in an application for the restraining order that Arroyo had been harassing her for six years.

"He follows me everywhere," she wrote. "For that reason, I am in fear of leaving my house. I keep my doors locked. I close my curtains because he looks up to my window."

Arroyo was fired from the Boston Fire Department earlier this year after failing to convince officials he was permanently disabled with a back injury despite competing in a body-building contest.

His attorney, Neil Osborne, said last month that the firing is the subject of a grievance filed by Arroyo's firefighters union, Local 718, with City Hall. Osborne said at the time that he does not represent Arroyo in connection with the domestic violence charges.

Arroyo applied to the Boston Retirement Board for a disability pension after reporting that he slipped on a staircase March 21. John Mahoney, a Dorchester neurologist, said in a report to the board that Arroyo was "totally and permanently disabled."

Despite the alleged injuries, Arroyo finished eighth at the 2008 Pro Natural American Championships on May 3 in Marlborough. After the Globe published a picture of him during the competition, Fire Department officials ordered him to return to work. When he refused, he was dismissed.

Wark said Arroyo will be held at the Nashua Street Jail until his next court date December 16 and possibly until his trial on the charges, currently scheduled January 6.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.