Stalking charges dropped in trooper's plea deal

Prosecutors dropped felony stalking and dozens of other charges Tuesday against a veteran state trooper in return for a guilty plea to illegally obtaining criminal history, court records show.

Master Cpl. Andrel Martinez, 39, of Milford, had been charged in March with crimes involving his ex-girlfriend, who is also the mother of his young daughter.

State police, who arrested Martinez, had said that in the eight months after the two separated in March 2013 he made multiple harassing and threatening visits to the woman's home along with a number of intimidating phone calls, voice mails, text messages and emails.

Martinez also had been accused of using the Delaware Justice Information System to conduct criminal history searches on the woman's friends, as well as checking on the owners of vehicles parked at her apartment complex.

In Kent County Superior Court on Tuesday, Martinez admitted to two counts for illegally getting criminal information.

Judge Robert Young immediately sentenced Martinez to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.

Prosecutors dropped charges including felony stalking, misdemeanor harassment and dozens of other charges as part of the plea deal.

Jason Miller, spokesman for Attorney General Beau Biden, said that the stalking and other charges were dropped "after careful consideration of the evidence in the case.''

The counts Martinez pleaded guilty to involved records of four people, Miller said.

Miller added that prosecutors also suggested to the judge that Martinez "should also be prohibited from working as a trooper because of his unlawful use of criminal history information."

State police said Martinez remains suspended without pay and benefits. He had been assigned to Troop 7 in Lewes.

"He is still entitled to due process through administrative review and hearing,'' said Sgt. Paul Shavack, state police spokesman. "I am not prepared to discuss the outcome of case or offer comment on the disposition of the criminal charges, as the internal investigation and review is pending.''

Shavack stressed that the agency's leader and troopers are "committed to maintaining a high level of public trust.''

Martinez' attorney, James Liguori, said, "We are hoping to go through the process there to keep his job."

Liguori said the state's stalking case, as well as many of the other charges against his client, were fraught with problems.

"There were many accusations that when push came to show, the state would not have been able to prove," Liguori said.

Liquori said Martinez went into the criminal records system as "part of a domestic relations matter he was going through, specifically related to the custody of his daughter."

Martinez was concerned about the people that were "hanging around" his daughter "and who the mother of his child exposed his daughter to," so he ran their criminal records, Liguori said.

"And you are not allowed to do that," Liquori said. "There was no harassment or anything like that. To me that wasn't stalking. To me that is like getting information on the Internet."

Contact senior reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com or on Facebook.

Contact Sean O'Sullivan at 302 324-2777 or sosullivan@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SeanGOSullivan.