Chelmsley Wood man sentenced after harassing woman from inside prison

A CHELMSLEY Wood man who terrorised a young woman he hadn't even met from INSIDE prison has received a five year jail sentence.
Carlos Boente, 33, was already serving time for harassment at HMP Birmingham when he began to phone and text the 19-year-old, whose number he had got from a cellmate.
Boente (pictured right) originally asked the victim to change his Facebook password on his behalf and while the teenager did not know who was contacting her, she agreed to do so as a favour.
From this point on, Boente sent thousands of texts to the woman and called her constantly, telling her he had no family and nobody visited him in prison.
Feeling sorry for him, the woman continued to correspond with him but his communications soon took a sinister turn when he began to ask where she was and if she did not reply, he would leave abusive and threatening messages.
Left exhausted by the endless texts and calls, the victim finally contacted police when he told her he had friends on the outside watching her, sending her a picture of her front door.
Det Con Vanessa Lewis said: “Even when the victim was giving a statement to us about Boente’s behaviour, we witnessed him constantly calling her, shouting down the phone and being abusive.
“Despite knowing we were investigating him, Boente showed no signs of stopping his disturbing conduct. On March 24 [last year], shortly after we blocked his letters and landline contact from the prison, three men entered the home of the woman’s aunt and uncle looking for a safe.”
Boente’s Facebook status two days later – boasting that he sent his “soldiers” to the property – indicated he was behind the burglary.
On June 4, Boente was charged with two counts of threats to kill, one count of harassment, one count of conspiracy to burgle and three counts of possessing a mobile phone while in prison.
He denied all the charges against him, apart from two counts of possessing a mobile phone.
Earlier this year he was cleared of the threats to kill charges but found guilty of the other offences, and sentenced to a total of five years in prison.
Det Con Lewis said: “It is clear that Boente – who operated four Facebook accounts through five different phones from behind bars – thinks he is above the law and unfortunately, does not see prison as a barrier to his bizarre behaviour.
“The woman concerned in this case and her family lived in fear for months. The stress caused by Boente’s actions resulted in family members giving up their jobs and selling their homes, while the victim felt she had lost all control of her life.”