NEWSDetails Revealed of Sam's Texts to Britney
Feb. 25 2009, Published 7:28 a.m. ET
After the court heard testimony on Monday from Britney Spears' father Jamie Spears, the hearing to decide whether or not to extend the restraining order against Sam Lutfi continued today with revealing testimony from her hairdresser and bodyguard.
According to Roberta Romero, who has been working on the pop superstar's hair for about a year now, sometime in late December, Sam got a hold of her cell phone number and sent her a total of 11 texts between Dec. 24 and Dec. 28.
Per Roberta's testimony, Sam first began contacting her in early December, when he attempted to call her several times from a blocked phone. Though he refused at first to identify himself, she was able to get him to admit that it was indeed Sam. He allegedly tried to have Roberta get a message to Britney that he was "trying to help her," but she refused, telling him that she believed him to be a bad influence on Brit.
The texting barrage began on Dec. 24 when Sam contacted Roberta with asking to "please wish her a Merry Christmas for me."
And then on Dec. 27, he began texted Roberta again with pleas to relay "the truth" to Britney.
"She can look at the court docs online," read one text. "I didn't do any of this to her."
Another text made the claim that Britney's hospitalization in February 2008 was all part of a conspiracy for her family to gain control over her.
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"Her family put her into the hospital just to set up the conservatorship," read the text. "I've done everything I can to free her.... I'm very close to getting her free now."
Roberta testified that when Brit discovered the texts late in the evening on Dec. 27, she asked Roberta to text him back, asking him to stop trying to reach her. When that didn't stop, the pair went to speak to Britney's head of security, Itamar Gelbman, who also testified today.
After being made aware of the texts, Gelbman contacted Sam directly by phone and told him that if the attempts to contact Britney did not stop, he would notify the police.
"She was scared... She can't fall asleep," Gelbman testified, saying that Britney asked him to increase the security patrols around her house.
It was also revealed in court today that Gelbman and his team keep a binder of people who they feel are threats to the singer, and that both Sam and Brit's ex-boyfriend, Adnan Ghalib are in this binder.
Apparently the court thinks he's enough of a threat to Britney to merit extending the restraining order until March 18, at which point it will likely be extended once more until at least the scheduled trial date of April 1.
