The LNBE Podcast
Mike Rispoli presents: The LNBE Podcast. "LNBE" stands for "Literally Nothing, But Everything" and the goal is to touch on what his thoughts and opinions are…just like every other podcast...
The LNBE Podcast
Episode 43 - Nothing but a Restraining Order: Part 2
What happens when a chance encounter on a hiking trail spirals into a legal storm? Join me, on Part 2 of this tangled journey through my own saga of legal drama and intrigue on The LNBE Podcast. I lay bare the chaos of being dragged into a courtroom over a 209A abuse prevention order filed by an ex-girlfriend from a relationship gone awry between 2020 and 2021. From unexpected run-ins to bewildering accusations of stalking and violence, unravel how a simple hike turned into a rollercoaster of courtroom theatrics, complete with bizarre cross-examinations and contradictions galore.
With humor and a touch of disbelief, I guide you through the surreal chaos of my court experience, as my lawyer and I confront strange questions and attempt to reconcile past events with the present. As the trial reaches its comedic crescendo, I reflect on the absurdity of legal battles and the importance of context, especially when confronting exaggerated claims. Whether you're here for the legal drama or the personal anecdotes, this episode offers a riveting glimpse into the complexities of modern relationships and the intricate dance between truth and perception.
If you would like to share your opinion, send an email to lnbemedia@gmail.com and don't forget to follow me on Insta and TikTok @thelnbepod.
Yo, what's going on? l Everybody? Happy Friday. Welcome back to another episode of the lmbe podcast, where lmbe stands for literally nothing but everything.
Mike:I'm mike rispoli and if you guys would be so kind, please continue to like, share, rate, rate, subscribe, comment. Check me out on my socials. You can find me on TikTok and Instagram @thelnbep od. I know, I know I really don't post anything. Oh well, Mike, you're unemployed, you should find the time to do it. You know what, guys? I just absolutely suck at social media. I don't know what you guys like. I don't know what to post. I get in my head about it. But you can also find me on YouTube if you just type in the LNBE podcast. And don't forget, you can always write in if you want to email me at lnbemedia@ gmail. com. But thank you to everybody who continues to support, because without you guys, this show would go absolutely nowhere. Kind of like my life right now. But I'm sorry for this last Tuesday's episode. It probably wasn't that great. In all honesty, I really didn't have that much to talk about. I'm sorry, but they're not all going to be winners here. But you know what? In my defense every single song that an artist puts out, it's not always going to be a hit. We got to have to roll with the punches here.
Mike:However, as promised, this is part two of the restraining order story, because I just received the audio recording this week. Now I cannot play the audio recording. According to my lawyer, I'm not allowed to actually play the whole thing, but I can give you guys a synopsis. I'm going to run through all of it anyways, it doesn't really matter, but I don't know if I would call this a hearing, a case, a testimony. I mean I guess it's kind of all of the above. But even though my lawyer said I can't play the audio recording, she did say that I'm allowed to talk about what was said. So that's why I'm just going to kind of run through everything here, because I know that some of you guys are dying to know. And for those of you who don't know, a few weeks back I saw an ex-girlfriend of mine on a hike and then all of a sudden, three days later, I got hit with a restraining order. So, like two episodes ago, I go through the whole affidavit as to how we even got to this point. So if if you haven't checked that out, go listen to that and then come back to this as the follow-up, but not to be totally like self-involved or self-absorbed or self-centered but can we just talk about my October for a hot second?
Mike:Not to say that any of your Octobers were any less worse than mine, but let's think about it. Someone who decided to recently listen in on this as a first time listener. You look at my cover album, so you know I have tattoos. You're hearing that I'm unemployed and now you're also hearing that I got a restraining order against me. So you're probably thinking to yourself what a fucking degenerate this guy is. Oh, we are starting out the holiday season strong. I really hope that, like whoever's listening to this, I really hope that all of your Octobers were at least somewhat better than mine. I mean, in all honesty, I don't think they could have gotten any worse, any worse, any worse. But all right, let's get into this. So let me give you some backstory here. I can't remember if I mentioned this a couple weeks ago. I don't go back and listen to these things, so bear with me here.
Mike:But so the chick who gave me this restraining order we dated from june of 2020 to january of 2021. She ended things with me because she wasn't happy with her job, she wasn't happy where she was living, and then she just wanted a fresh start and she was gonna go move to Minnesota with her sister. Then she ended up not leaving and by April of 2021, she gets back in touch with me and wants to get back together. And since I was like so blindsided, I accepted it, to my big mistake, and by May we were officially back together. Then, by November of 2021, I was the one who put the final nail in the coffin and ended things with her, because I just got tired of her antics.
Mike:I mean, okay, I would barely see her, I would only see her on weekends. Keep in mind, as I said, she lived a mile and a half away from me. I mean, honestly, it couldn't get any more convenient. I mean, think about that. How great is it if the person that you're with isn't a 15, 20 minute drive away? Oh, life should have been bliss. But no, I would only see her like one day on a weekend, because the other day of a weekend she would drop off her dog. I would take care of it while she would go run errands, go see her mom, like I was pretty much just her glorified dog sitter. Then the one time that I said I couldn't watch her dog and this was in like August of 2021, she threatened to break up with me. So then by November I just had enough and I officially ended things. So that was two six-month clips. So we dated on and off for about a year.
Mike:I digress, okay, let's get into this whole restraining order thing. So now I received a 209A abuse prevention order, which is something that's only relative to Massachusetts from what I was able to look up order which is something that's only relative to Massachusetts from what I was able to look up. So during this hearing, this trial, whatever you want to call it, she had to make the case that I was a threatening and an abusive person. So we get called up, the judge gives her the floor and she represented herself during this whole thing. So the judge and my lawyer were the only ones who were asking her questions and pretty much she just starts off by saying that she was living in Connecticut and there were a few instances where the defendant me would run by close of her street of residence and at the time that was never documented. She recently moved to Boston. As of a few months ago.
Mike:She went out on a hike in New Hampshire. She didn't tell anybody at the time, and at the end of the trail there was an instance where she didn't recognize me, but she heard that I was describing items from a relationship and having a conversation, she made eye contact, which made her extremely fearful because she was alone with her dog. Now I know for a fact that I never saw this chick's face because the whole time, as I've said before, I was behind her the whole time. So maybe she turned around to look at me. I mean, who wouldn't? I'm a good looking guy but pretty much from what I can gather from that initial testimony, was she heard somebody that sounded like me? She turns around, she sees that it actually was me and then she just got triggered. So I don't know, maybe I just have that effect.
Mike:So then, since I was served the 209A prevention order abuse prevention order the judge actually asked her if there was any instances of physical violence during the time of our relationship and to my surprise, she said yes and I just turned to my lawyer and I'm like well, this is news to me. Does anybody got a mop ready? Because I have no idea what the fuck tea she's about to be spilling could be. So the judge questions her on it and he was just like okay, well, when did this physical act of violence happen? And she said that it was during times of intimacy, and even though the intimacy was consensual, that I proceeded to hit her and leave a mark on her body. So my lawyer was writing down questions on her notepad. But then, once my lawyer was done, I take her pen and I just wrote in big letters, spanking question mark, because that's the only thing that came to my mind, like did I spank her too hard? Like what the fuck?
Mike:Now, ladies, don't take this the wrong way. Sometimes I don't know my own strength. To any friends and family listening, this is going to be tmi, listen at your own risk, ladies. I might not be six foot, but I'm 5, 10. I'm like 200 pounds, not to toot my own horn, but I'm built like a truck. My hands are also ginormous, so they cover a lot of surface area. So any sort of ass slap it might catch you by surprise. But if I'm a little bit more rough than I intend to be, you just gotta let me know and I'll make the proper halftime adjustments and I'll come out, the second half being a little bit more gentle. And all is good in the world and this is just some general advice to everybody out there but when it comes down to having good sex and a good relationship in general, everything just comes down to communication. Hey, but like next time when you slap my ass, can you just be a little bit more gentle?
Mike:I didn't really like it that hard. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to be that hard because, honestly, if sex is painful, it's not enjoyable. All these fucking you know what digressing here, but who the fuck likes pain when you're trying to have sex now? Granted, I know I'm mentioning a time where I accidentally got a little too rough. Now, I don't know what you guys think I'm into, but I ain't about that BDSM life. So I didn't really think that getting a slap on the ass in the heat of the moment would necessarily account to me as taking my whole day out on her, I don't know. So we're going to revisit this a little later, because my lawyer did question her on it, but the judge then went on to ask her if I ever threatened violence against her. She went on to say no, but then she went on to say that I featured aggression towards my friends.
Mike:Now, backstory on this was back in 2020 when I first moved back to Connecticut from Bristol, rhode Island. I was hanging out with a couple kids and one of the kids was just being an absolute dick. He's just super immature. I honestly can't remember what started it because this is from four years ago at this point, but obviously things got a little heated. I remember he tried to take a swing at me. I pretty much just wrapped him up until he calmed down. I haven't hung out with this person since the incident because I really try my best not to hang out with assholes, but this chick wasn't even there. So I don't even know if you can testify to something that you don't even witness.
Mike:But the judge went on to ask well, did you witness this? And she goes no, well, did he tell you about it? Yeah, and that was pretty much it. Now, I wasn't necessarily proud of the fact that I got into this altercation, so I'm actually not sure why me even telling her about it would matter in general. Maybe it's because, like, I don't know if I was such an abusive person, why would I mention that I got into an altercation? But it's not like I'm sitting there bragging about it, it was more of just the fact of like, hey, by the way, this sort of thing happened, I'm not going to be hanging out with this person anymore, just fyi, because she did meet the kid once, so I don't know. But then this is where she kind of made herself look like an idiot, because then the judge asked her well, did you ever witness him being physically violent around others? And she goes yes, takes a long pause and is like I'm sorry, this is a very specific memory. I grew up in a small town in poland and I moved here when I was a kid proceeds to not even answer the judge's question. So I honestly have no idea where she was going with that, and her being from poland has anything to do with me. So the judge clarifies and he was just like have you ever witnessed the defendant being physically violent towards somebody? And she says no, have you ever observed him threaten physical violence towards someone else? And she goes no. And then the judge was pretty much well, I'll hear anything else that you have. And she goes yeah, I didn't file anything in Connecticut, but I have screenshots of conversations with friends of times that I saw him. So then this is where she goes into what she wrote on the affidavit with those two dates on May 5th and May 31st. So she goes May 5th, 2023. She has a text message from a friend.
Mike:I'm literally being stalked by mike. I've seen him at least once a week at this point while I'm driving or walking my dog. We lived a mile and a half away from each other. He won't stop running towards me or on my street. I see he's running on the other side of the street. I see him and he said fucking spit and ran back the other way. I can't move anywhere for nine months and this is getting physically and mentally exhausting.
Mike:I wish there was something legally I could do. Huh, go back to the affidavit episode, because I went into all this, but apparently it took you a fucking two years to figure out what you could legally do, even though this whole thing was nonsense and it was for a non-issue to begin with. You know what? I'm just gonna come out and ask it what was the length of the school bus that you rode going to school? Because it clearly seems that you're slow to act on things. If you're picking up what I'm putting down and maybe you probably picked up something from looking at one of those windows, because this whole thing is fucking stupid as shit. I'm sorry. Maybe it's not a matter of riding the short bus because, honestly, that's also an insult to those people comparing them to her. Maybe this is just a matter of just not being in a clear egomaniac's general space and just being banished from the queen's territory. Also, again, just going to reiterate talking shit does not mean that it is a threat. It is my 100% First Amendment right that I can talk shit about somebody, just in case she hears this and gets all triggered, man.
Mike:Then she reads what her friend said and she goes omg, he needs to get a grip and move on. That's mega creepy. I wish I had advice for you. If anybody's the one that needs to move on. It was the plaintiff, it wasn't me. I'm not the one causing all this drama. I also wasn't the one texting people. Hey, guess who I saw whenever I went on a fucking run. I only saw her a handful of times. To begin with I didn't give a fuck. Why did she care so much? So, anyways, the judge actually, after hearing those text messages, said if you could just focus on the times that what you saw him. So now she goes to say May 31st, 2024.
Mike:She had one more text message that showcased of when she possibly could have seen me and she just wrote guess who's running on my street again. And then she stopped reading and she went on to say every time I saw him, I was fearful something would escalate because of the previous instances, ever since the time in New Hampshire I started seeking help from a therapist. Bitch, you should have been seeking help from a therapist well before any of this, because this is all unhinged Like you are truly unwell. So here's where some of her testimony gets lost, at least to me. First of all, in those text messages she says that she saw me once a week.
Mike:Yet she only has two instances of when she saw me, considering I did that running route anywhere from 60 to 70 times from 2022 till the current day, because I didn't even start doing that running route until November of 2022, which was a year after we broke up, because I didn't want to run into her. Wouldn't you have had more than just two interactions that you can account for? And also, why did you choose two times that were a year apart from each other. She also went on to say that she wishes that there was something legally that she could do. Yet she never reported anything during these three years post-breakup of seeing me when I would only see her on that running route. It's not my fault that she lived on a main street that would lead into town. If I was such a problem, why did you wait all the way up until 2024 when you moved 200 miles away when I completely coincidentally happened to bump into her on a hiking trail where it was the busiest weekend of the year for that trail? I genuinely have no clue what she was hoping to get out of this, and you could probably make the argument well, mike, did you do that running route knowing that you would bump into her? No, as I just said, it took me a year to even start doing that running route because I didn't want to bump into her. But the only reason I even started doing that route to begin with was just because I was getting bored with running around the same five miles around my own neighborhood. I had to start branching out to other areas. Anybody who knows that you can get so bored if you're constantly doing the same running route. It's like when you go to the gym and you just do the same routine every day for a year. You're going to get bored, so okay.
Mike:So then her testimony ends when the judge asks her how many instances of unwanted physical contact there was. And then she went on to say that it was only the one time and it was during that one instance, and that one instance being probably when I slapped her on the ass a little too hard during sex. So all she has is that she saw me in a couple runs, she. I don't necessarily know how that makes me a threat, but that was her whole testimony. Then my lawyer got to ask her questions, and my lawyer asked her if she used to live in Greenwich. She said yes. My lawyer asked her if she lived on a main road, and this bitch had the audacity to say, well, I wouldn't call it a main road, but it was near a main road. Get the fuck out of here, bitch. You lived on a main road, what? Just because you lived in the back of the building, because you lived in the basement apartment, your address still had the main road listed as the street name.
Mike:So, anyways, she goes on to say, well, how far did you live from him A mile and a half? Would you see the defendant running? Yes, so this incident where he spit, you saw him coming from behind and she goes yeah, and I just carried on my usual route and he turned around. No, he didn't turn around, he just ran by you. Well, he proceeded to cross the street and run in close proximity, all right. Well, first of all, thank you for helping my case by saying I crossed the street. But also, if I crossed the street, but also if I crossed the street, how could I have been in close proximity to you after this alleged incident? A lot of this just reminded me of the horrible bosses line, where Charlie Day's character was just like do you hear the words that you say sometimes? This whole thing is just ridiculous.
Mike:So then my lawyer asked her well, this other incident where he ran by you, did he talk to you? Oh yeah, he would say hi and him saying hi would put you in fear. Yes, oh yeah, because saying hi to somebody is outrageously dangerous. Isn't it usually the other way around, where the person who's saying hi would be afraid to speak up? When's the last time anybody was just like, hey, how's it going? And you felt fear for your life, unless you truly had a traumatic incident with the person. You never probably felt fear.
Mike:So then my lawyer goes on to ask her okay, so this hiking weekend, do you think that he followed you? There she goes. I don't know how the encounter happened. Was he alone? I don't know, it was a really crowded day and a really crowded trail, so I don't know if he was with somebody.
Mike:Okay, during your testimony you said that it sounded like I was having a conversation, so you just inadvertently lied. I mean, okay, I know that I do a solo podcast and over the course of doing this, I know that I do a solo podcast and over the course of doing this, I've probably gotten a little bit better at talking to myself. But what is she saying? Was she trying to allude to the fact that I was alone, that I traveled five plus hours by myself to go out of my way to try and find her on this random hiking trail that I didn't even know about until I went to go see my sister in Salem Massachusetts? And I'm just walking down the mountain myself, acting like Gollum or Joe Pesci in Home Alone, just being like fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh. Oh, I'm sorry, but were you always this dumb or were you just really just trying to put your best foot forward today?
Mike:So now this is where things got really great is where my lawyer said in the affidavit you wrote that the defendant approached you, but you said that you looked behind and said that he was behind you. The plaintiff then went on to say I don't recall writing that he approached me. And my lawyer was like, oh, I can read it. And she proceeds to read directly off the affidavit, saying that I approached her and her dog. And that was where I had my little Jim from the office moment, because my friend who was going to testify was sitting in the audience and I just looked over at him. Thank god he looked away. We both would have started dying. So it was like gotcha bitch, hashtag, dave Chappelle shout out.
Mike:So my lawyer then went on to be like well, how did he threaten you if he wasn't speaking to you? And she goes. Well, I felt threatened by the details that the defendant was saying no one else would have known about what. First of all, I don't even know what the hell details she's talking about, but I didn't realize that talking details about something would even remotely cause you to have trauma. If anything, I should be the one that has trauma. You treated me like shit and she goes. I made sure to know it was him by turning around, because it seemed like he was trying to get a reaction out of me Again, I didn't even know if it was you at the time Like how could I try and get a reaction out of somebody that I don't even know who's in front of me? Like whole thing is just crazy. So that was when my lawyer and this was the quote of the day just turns to her and just goes do you know what the definition of the word threat is? So the judge was like yeah, you don't have to answer that.
Mike:So now we jump back to this whole like alleged abuse part where my lawyer was like okay, well, this act that occurred during relations, it only happened once. Did you verbalize that you were uncomfortable with it? I did. Then did he do it again? Well, there were times that he did it, but it wasn't as severe, but you just testified that only happened once. Yeah, it only happened once. Okay, so like what the fuck? You tell me you're not into something and I listen, I Don't know, to me that kind of makes me sound like a great guy, not gonna lie.
Mike:So now my lawyer is asking me all these questions, just everything, everything I've already established, like what's your relationship with her? How long do you date? When did you break up? Was her home near anything that you would be near? I was like, well, it's just only on my runs and near the church that I go to or on my way home from work, sometimes, just establishing that all of this is just like OK. So you just happen to see him on a couple of runs. You randomly bumped into him on a hike up in New Hampshire, like what is the fucking problem here? So then, once my lawyer is like no more further questions, the judge gives the plaintiff the floor and she's now able to ask me questions.
Mike:And her big gotcha question of the day On your way up to New Hampshire, did you see any Connecticut license plates? So I kind of just like what? I mean, I wasn't really paying attention to any of the cars on the way up there and I for sure as hell wasn't paying attention to what license plates were on them. And then she just goes do you even know what a Connecticut license plate looks like? Oh my God, how, what? She just goes. Do you even know what a Connecticut license plate looks like? Oh my god, how? What? Just because you look stupid during this whole thing? Don't try and make me look like an idiot, but for the record, yes, I know what a CT license plate looks like.
Mike:But something I didn't think about until after this whole thing was over was that in court you also mentioned that you had just moved to Massachusetts, like a couple months ago, and you're asking me if I was looking for Connecticut license plates. First of all, how narcissistic must someone be yeah, I'm going all the way up there to try and find somebody that I couldn't even give a rat's ass about. But also, how stupid could you be admitting to the fact that you still have a Connecticut license plate when you just said that you moved to Massachusetts like a couple months ago? Don't you only have 30 days to change that, moron? And then she asked me well, did you see any cars parked with any Connecticut license plates? Again, I wasn't paying attention to the cars, but honestly, bitch, if it makes you feel any better. There are probably hundreds of cars with Connecticut license plates going up to the mountain and parked around the area. Okay, well, you think you're the only car with a Connecticut license plate going up to a very popular hiking destination. Oh my God, oh my God, dude, I can't even fathom how big your head must be if that's what you think, because, technically, if my sister's husband didn't drive my car has a Connecticut license plate, my car I could have said yes because of my car. Like what the hell is she thinking?
Mike:So now, finally, the judge is like okay, okay, well, do you want to be heard briefly on your request to extend the order? Because I'll give you the opportunity now, even though I don't necessarily need to hear it, because I have all the evidence, pretty much saying yeah, I already got my decision on this. And then, uh, he gave us the floor again and he was like is there anything more that you guys would like to offer? My lawyer is like well, we do have a witness that can account for what happened at Mount Williard, which is the trail up in New Hampshire. Otherwise, we don't feel that this meets the standard of a 209A order form, and this is some form of vindictive or drama or something. And then the judge is just like well, I mean if you want to call a witness, then you can. Now, at this point Now it's kind of like even the judge is like okay. The judge is like okay, time to run it back, because this cup keeps getting hotter and tea is truly about to spill all over.
Mike:So I lean over to my lawyer and I'm just like, well, I mean, he did come all this way because we ended up carpooling together, so we may as well have him get up there. Let her sweat it out a little bit more. So pretty much everything has already been established. And it was just like did I make any comments at the plaintiff? No, he didn't like things like that. Did you talk about if it was her? Yeah, and it was just like what are the odds that it could have been her? Like everything that I've already told you guys about. And it was so funny because my lawyer asked how many times he had met the plaintiff and he was like twice, including that time. So my lawyer was like well, how many times before that time? And he goes, well, just once. So now the plaintiff gets to ask my friend questions while he's on the witness stand and she just goes.
Mike:You mentioned that you weren't sure it was me, what exactly wasn't sure? Almost as if it was like how dare you forget who I am? I mean, I'm the one that dated you for a year. I didn't even realize that it was you. Give him a break. And my friend was just like I mean, the last time I saw you was three years ago, so you're not really a familiar face, not somebody that I could really recall, and she goes. But I was walking in front and I made eye contact and he was like the only place I saw you was at the end of the trail. And then she even asked him the same question, like did you see any Connecticut license plates coming up? Did you see any Connecticut license plates parked around? And he was like no, like who the fuck pays attention to shit like that? But needless to say, I got the whole thing dismissed. This is now 100% behind me.
Mike:I finally took a solid shit for the first time after the case was over, because I was nervous For those like 10 days that I had to deal with this thing. I was just like what the hell? Once I saw the affidavit, I wasn't as nervous. But then again I think I mentioned this last week where it was just like we didn't know she was gonna say in court and how this thing even got to this point. But hopefully you guys found the story as entertaining as I did, because I was just like all of this is just a huge waste of time. I don't know what she was hoping to gain out of this. God forbid. I'm going up to see one of my friends who lives in boston and I see her around like, oh, I really hope to god I never run into her, ever again and that there isn't a part three of this whole ordeal. But oh, also, I feel like for legal purposes, some of this was not exact quotes. Some of this was also me just kind of talking shit, trying to make this a little bit more funny because otherwise it would have just been very boring, like obviously I wasn't swearing and stuff during the court hearings and all of that stuff.
Mike:So for all you literal people out there, please use your best judgment and use common sense to determine what was actually said in court versus what my commentary was for this podcast. Please, and thank you All right guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please leave me a rating. Please give me a comment. Please like, subscribe, share it with a friend. Check me out on my socials. You can find me @thelnbepod on TikTok and Instagram. Also, if you guys want to write in and tell me any of your crazy stories that you got going on, feel free to do so. You can email me at lnbemedia@ gmail. com. All right, guys. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I will catch up with you on Tuesday. Thank you.
