New Canaan Police on Sept. 16 arrested a 29-year-old New York City man by warrant and charged him with disseminating voyeuristic material—a felony offense—in connection with an investigation launched by local authorities in 2018.
Joshua Lipson. Mugshot courtesy of the New Canaan Police Department
Joshua Lipson of 228 West 15th St., Apt. 1A, also was charged with second-degree harassment.
The victim in the case came to police, accompanied by a friend, in January 2018, according to an arrest warrant application written by Officer Nicole Vartuli that was filed in August 2018 in state Superior Court.
During the initial interview, the victim told police that Lipson “had not stopped contacting her” since she ended their relationship three weeks prior, according to Vartuli’s affidavit.
For three days, the victim had received multiple unwanted texts and phone calls for three days from 13 different phone numbers that were unknown, with messages that included “This won’t stop” and “so I really recommend you call me,” the affidavit said.
Other text messages “contained information that only he would know about her,” it said.
On Jan. 4, “someone on Instagram with the username @Baileyisacavapoo threatened to release sexual videos of her on the Internet” and the victim told police that “Josh Lipson is the only person that would have videos and images of her performing sexual acts” that were captured during their relationship, the arrest warrant application said. The victim told police that “she was an aspiring model and Josh Lipson was aware of that” and that he “knew sending out videos and images of her would potentially ruin her modeling career,” it said.
He also contacted one of the victim’s friends on Jan. 15 asking questions about the victim’s whereabouts, it said.
The victim on Jan. 15, 2018 had gone on a date with a man who, at 10:58 p.m. that night, “received a video through Facebook Messenger of her performing oral sex on another male,” the affidavit said. The victim confirmed that the male was Lipson. The victim told police that she had already received a text from a 619 extension number stating, “And our 30 second [oral sex] video is doing great. Can’t wait to put up more.” The man with whom the victim went on a date received additional videos from unknown accounts, the arrest warrant application said. The victim initially worked with New Castle, N.Y. police because that’s where she was when receiving the first batch of texts, and an officer from that department spoke on the phone with Lipson advising him not to contact the victim or the man she had started dating.
Asked if she feared for her safety, Vartuli said in the arrest application, the victim said, “Josh Lipson does not have a car but I would not be surprised if he showed up to my house.”
The man that the victim had started dating told police that he received additional text messages that included “four pornographic images of [the victim] having sex with Josh Lipson.”
Three months after the initial interview, police spoke with the victim again and she “stated Josh Lipson was in a state of depression and anxiety when he sent her and [the man she had started dating] the harassing messages and pornographic images/videos” and that he “was going to counseling for his depression and anxiety.” She told police that she had spoken with Lipson’s family and that they “warned him not to contact her or [the man she had started dating] anymore.”
About one week later, the victim came to headquarters and said she “no longer wanted to file legal or criminal charges against Lipson,” swearing to as much in a voluntary statement. Vartuli spoke to Lipson in May 2018 on the phone, the arrest warrant application said. During the conversation, he “stated he would not talk to me about this incident without an attorney present” and that “he was seeing a psychiatrist about his issues.”
New Canaan Police went to the Essex County Correctional Facility to take custody of Lipson on the extraditable arrest warrant.
Hudock signed
A protective order signed Sept. 17 by State Superior Court Judge Bruce Hudock requires that Lipson: “Surrender or transfer all firearms and ammunition”; “Do not assault, threaten, abuse, harass, follow, interfere with or stalk the protected person”; “Stay away from the home of the protected person and wherever the protected person shall reside”; and “Do not contact the protected person in any manner, including by written, electronic or telephone contact, and do not contact the protected person’s home, workplace, or others with whom the contact would be likely to cause annoyance or alarm to the protected person.”
Lipson has not yet pleaded, according to Connecticut Judicial Branch records. He was released on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear Nov. 5 via remote hearing, the records show. He is being represented by Stamford-based criminal defense attorney Mark Sherman.