He pleaded not guilty to all charges, and is scheduled to return to court on May 15 for a pretrial hearing.
An attorney for Tibbetts declined to comment Friday. Stewart did not return a request for comment, and police in Scituate also declined to comment.
Tibbetts, who now lives in Warwick, R.I., played 82 games in the NHL over parts of three seasons from 2000 to 2003. His playing career came after he was convicted of statutory rape stemming from a 1992 allegation, when he was 17 and the girl was 15, the Globe reported.
Sentenced to probation, Tibbetts ultimately served three years in prison after two different arrests on assault charges, including one involving assault on a police officer.
Since then, court records show a history of run-ins with police in Scituate, in particular the department’s former chief, W. Michael Stewart.
In 2019, Stewart secured a harassment prevention order against Tibbetts, alleging that he was “posting fabricated stories about him on almost a daily basis” on social media, according to court records.
Stewart told investigators that Tibbetts had made threats against him and his family for decades “in retaliation for the rape investigation and charges” in 1992, according to court records.
In one instance, Tibbetts allegedly approached one of Stewart’s children in Hingham and told them their father was going to commit suicide, records show.
Tibbetts pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal harassment in September 2019 and was again sentenced to probation. Just days later, he was arrested for alleged drug possession and served a year in jail, according to court records.
After Stewart retired in 2020, Tibbetts continued to target him on social media, accusing the former chief of framing him for crimes “and ruin[ing] his life,” according to court records.
Prosecutors charged Tibbetts with violating the harassment order, and additional charges were filed in January of this year after Tibbetts posted more videos targeting Stewart, claiming Stewart was “fired for murder, drug dealing, pedophilia, drinking and driving,” according to court records.
In another video cited in court records, Tibbetts addressed the harassment order, suggesting there was nothing Stewart could do in response to the alleged violations except “bring me to court and harass me some more.”
From 2000 to 2003, Tibbetts played in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Rangers; he also played minor league hockey in Springfield, Hartford, and on Cape Cod. The Bruins invited Tibbetts to training camp ahead of the 2006–2007 season, but he was ultimately cut.
In 2019, he ran for an open seat on Scituate’s select board, and lost decisively.
In the past, Tibbetts has said he had struggled with substance abuse; his record includes a 2019 arrest in Boston’s Chinatown for alleged possession of crack cocaine, less than two days after receiving a suspended sentence for the harassment charges.
In 2024, he pleaded no contest to vandalism and resisting arrest in Rhode Island; he was sentenced to undergo mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment, according to court records.
“I’ve been my own worst enemy, I know that,” he told the Globe in 2006. “My mouth. My ego. My actions.”
Tibbetts is no stranger to controversy on social media. Last month, he became embroiled in a feud with fellow ex-NHLer Andrew Ference, after the former Bruins defenseman described an altercation between Tibbetts and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux on a Penguins team plane. (Tibbetts denied the account, though he admitted to having “beat up” teammate Krzysztof Oliwa.)
He has also not shied away from discussing his legal troubles on social media.
“Some guy got his feelings hurt on the internet,” Tibbetts said, apparently referring to Stewart, in a video posted to Facebook on March 20, the day of his arraignment in Hingham. “Oh really? My feelings got real hurt [in] 1992. They hurt my feelings real bad. What’s up with that?”
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.