A man who’s on probation for strangling a former girlfriend in Powell and on bond for allegedly stalking a different partner in Cody is now alleged to have strangled another woman in Billings.

Justin V. Barrington, a 33-year-old Cody resident, was arrested by Billings police on Saturday, after he allegedly assaulted his new girlfriend.

Prosecutors in Yellowstone County, Montana, allege Barrington covered the woman’s nose and mouth three separate times, making it hard for her to breathe.

The office has charged Barrington with a felony count of strangulation of a partner, plus misdemeanor counts of partner assault, destruction of or tampering with a communication device and unlawful restraint.

Barrington remained in the Yellowstone County Detention Facility on Wednesday with his bail set at $35,000 on the new charges, detention records say.

Barrington is also being held on a Park County warrant; prosecutors here are seeking to revoke his bond on pending charges that allege he stalked his wife in Cody and coerced her into having sex this summer.

Authorities have also been seeking to revoke Barrington’s probation, which stems from choking his then-girlfriend in Powell in 2021.

An alleged assault in Billings

Barrington has been free on a $50,000 cash bond since August, with conditions that include staying in Park County and staying out of bars.

However, authorities allege he went to a Billings bar with a new girlfriend on Saturday — and then assaulted her.

According to that woman’s account to Billings police, Barrington became upset after they returned to her residence, because he felt she “wasn’t close enough to him” in bed.

The woman tried sleeping on the couch, but he became frustrated and allegedly pinned her down, according to a summary of the woman’s account composed by Deputy Chief Yellowstone County Attorney Hallie Bishop.

The woman said she started screaming for help, which prompted Barrington to cover her nose and mouth with his hand, the summary says.

She told police she got free and tried calling 911 from her iPad in the kitchen, but, she alleged, Barrington took away the device and threw her to the ground.

“[The woman] stated that [Barrington] again put his hand over her nose and mouth, impeding her ability to breathe,” Bishop wrote in the affidavit. “[The woman] reported that [Barrington] told her that if she didn’t stop screaming, he would hurt her.”

She then tried calling for help from her cellphone, but Barrington reportedly pinned her down again and ripped the phone out of her hands, the affidavit says of her account.

“[The woman] reported that for a third time, [Barrington placed] his hand over her nose and mouth and that she could not breathe,” Bishop wrote.

Barrington ultimately said he was going to pack up his stuff and leave, the affidavit says, and the woman ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911.

Police stopped Barrington as he was driving away and found the woman’s phone in his truck, the affidavit says.

Alleged stalking in Cody

Barrington was already facing charges that allege he stole his soon-to-be ex-wife’s phone.

That Park County resident told Cody police Barrington had installed spyware on her phone that monitored her calls and data and, after they broke up, repeatedly showed up at her workplace, charging documents say. The woman reportedly described him as overbearing and controlling.

On July 2, Barrington allegedly approached his wife at a Cody gas station and said they needed to straighten things out, charging documents say.

He grabbed her phone from her vehicle, and, by her account, refused to give it back until she followed him to another store, the documents say. Barrington then repeatedly asked the woman to have sex with him until she “decided to give up [and] do what he wants because she didn’t want him to hurt her,” Cody Police Det. Sgt. Trapper Heydenberk wrote of the Cody woman’s account.

The Park County Attorney’s Office has charged Barrington with burglary, for allegedly taking the phone from her vehicle, and sexual servitude of an adult, apparently alleging he coerced the woman into having sex in exchange for her phone. Barrington also faces misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and stalking.

His defense attorney, Tim Blatt, has disputed the allegations, saying the sexual servitude charge is “a little out there” and that the couple had exchanged “very consensual messages” until shortly before the encounter.

A preliminary hearing in the case was recently delayed at Blatt’s request.

Strangulation in Powell

Meanwhile, Barrington is also facing the possible revocation of his supervised probation, which stems from reportedly choking his then-girlfriend unconscious in December 2021. The Powell woman told police that when she came to, Barrington reportedly warned that he would “burn everything and her dogs” if she left him.

The woman later supported a plea deal in which Barrington received three years of probation for felony strangulation of a household member.

However, Barrington reportedly threatened the woman again during an early morning dispute in June 2024. According to her account to Powell police, Barrington warned he would distribute intimate images of her if she didn’t return home.

In a later call that was overheard and recorded by a Powell officer, Barrington reportedly said he knew where the woman’s family members lived, that security cameras were the only thing keeping him from popping the woman’s tires and expressed displeasure that she’d called the police.

“... You know what’s going to happen to you then, right?” Barrington reportedly said. “The same thing I physically told you was going to happen to the next person that was going to try to send me to prison. Cause that was literally you, tonight.”

Then-Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield charged Barrington with felony counts of blackmail and influencing, intimidating or impeding a witness in connection with the call, but the woman was upset by the severity of the charges. In conjunction with the victim’s wishes, then-Deputy County Attorney Laura Newton agreed to at least temporarily drop that case late last year. Instead, Barrington’s probation from the earlier strangulation case was extended for two more years.

District Court Judge Bill Simpson initially balked at the deal, but approved it after Newton provided an explanation; the prosecutor noted in part that both incidents were tied to alcohol and that Barrington had completed treatment.

The probation and bond revocations from the Park County cases and the new charges from Yellowstone County all remained pending on Wednesday.