The illegal-immigrant pizza deliveryman who was detained by ICE at an Army base in Brooklyn over the summer allegedly got physical with his wife after she told him she wants a divorce, she told police.
Sandra Chica shared the revelation with cops Friday when her husband, Pablo Villavicencio, was arrested over the alleged domestic violence incident at their Long Island home, according to court documents.
“He has been increasingly angry recently since I told him I wanted a divorce,” Chica said in her statement to police.
“Next, Pablo Villavicencio grabbed me by the right arm and pushed me against the wall.”
The news comes as Villavicencio, 35, appeared in a Nassau County district court on charges of criminal mischief over the altercation, during which he allegedly took Chica’s cellphone away so she couldn’t call police.
When she couldn’t get the phone back, Chica went to the Hempstead police station to “seek help,” she said in her statement.
Dressed in a black tracksuit, a somber-looking Villavicencio appeared in the courtroom Tuesday without Chica by his side, before being whisked away by his Legal Aid lawyers.
He has been bailed out of detention, but is not staying with his family, an attorney said.
Villavicencio, who hails from Ecuador, has been trying to gain legal US residence through his wife, a US citizen, since he was released from immigration detention in late July.
The ex-pizza slinger had been locked up for almost two months after he was stopped for an ID check while delivering food to the Fort Hamilton Army base, and officials found he had been an “ICE fugitive” since 2010, when he failed to comply with a voluntary departure order.
The incident gained national attention, and a judge eventually put a hold on the deportation and let him go free while he tried to pursue residency.
One of Villavicencio’s lawyers on Tuesday claimed his inability to work during this process led to the marital difficulties.
“He literally was rescued from that within a day or so of him being sent out of the country forever. And then when he got out, he wasn’t able to work,” said attorney Bruce Barket after the court appearance.
“You have an adult male trying to support his family. Family with income cut in half because he can’t work, the government won’t let him and he’s home all day, every day, with nothing to do. That kind of storm is going to affect an individual’s marriage.”
Barket insisted his client is innocent of withholding his wife’s phone and of prosecutors’ claim that Villavicencio “slapped” her body.
“If you know what actually happened, it clearly did not happen that way,” Barket said, but wouldn’t elaborate on what “actually happened.”
Prosecutors are moving Villavicencio’s criminal mischief case to trial in two weeks, and he will next return to court on Nov. 5.
