Charge: Seattle man targeted exes in robbery spree Two victims were pregnant, police contend

For a guy accused of robbing at least two of his exes, Seattle resident Zelrico Bulter is a most wanted man.

Butler, 24, failed to show up in King County Superior Court on Thursday to be arraigned on robbery and assault charges filed against him and another of his girlfriends, Nakeyta “Dee Dee” Delgardo.

Along with Delgardo, Butler is accused of robbing three women and of beating another. Two of the women were pregnant during the attacks.

Butler, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Adrienne McCoy told the court, “committed an armed robbery of his girlfriend and her stepmother.” Delgardo, the prosecutor continued, “brutally assaulted two pregnant women … at the behest of defendant Butler.”

Shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 3, Seattle police received a report of a robbery outside Club Habana in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood. Responding officers found the woman and a black eye and abrasions on her jaw.

The woman – a 24-year-old then several months pregnant with Butler’s baby – told officers she’d been beaten up by one of Butler’s other girlfriends, Nakeyta “Dee Dee” Delgardo, Detective Jennifer Samson told the court.

The woman went on to say Butler had driven her to the club that morning. While she was waiting in the car for Butler to get a drink, Delgardo approached and pulled her from the vehicle, Samson continued.

“She took a fetal position on the ground and covered her head with her hands and arms as Nakeyta continued to punch and kick her, causing her to black out,” the detective said in court documents.

Butler returned, picked her up and put her back in the car before driving from the area. Delgardo and several other women followed them from the scene, Samson told the court, bumping their car once before the woman was dropped off at home.

Speaking with detectives, the woman said she believes Delgardo kicked her in the stomach hoping to cause her to miscarry, and that Butler arranged the attack. Her purse was taken during the altercation.

Two hours after the incident, Seattle officers were called to a Leschi neighborhood home following a report of a robbery.

A woman who like the other alleged victims had been dating Butler said she was attacked by a group of women outside Club Habana after talking with Butler, Samson told the court.

The woman told police her assailants had taken her purse, cell phone and digital camera before fleeing. She later identified Delgardo as one of her assailants.

According to charging documents, Butler robbed the same woman at gunpoint on March 14 at a Central District hair salon.

Noting that Butler is “known to date several women at the same time,” Seattle Police Detective Michelle Barker said the woman and her stepmother were targeted by Butler after the woman broke up with him.

The younger woman, who’d dated Butler for about one year, told responding officers she’d received a call from her ex 10 minutes before the robbery, Barker told the court.

According to charging documents, he arrived at the salon as she was cutting her stepmother’s hair, then grabbed her purse and car keys. Confronted by the woman, Butler drew a pistol and moved to steal the older woman’s purse.

“You’re not getting off that easy,” Butler said, according to police.

Butler grabbed the second purse and fled in the woman’s car, Barker told the court.

The woman called the police immediately. Later that night, Barker continued, she received what was referred to in court documents as a “butt dial” on which Butler could be heard discussing the robbery and saying he “wanted his cut” of his ex-girlfriend’s money.

Butler also called her intentionally and threatened to harm her if she contacted authorities, the detective said.

“If anything happens to me with the police I know where you live and how to find you,” he said, according to police.

Days later, another of Butler’s girlfriends contacted the woman through Facebook and offered to help her get back at Butler for the theft because Butler had beaten her previously, Barker told the court.

Butler has been charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault. He has not been jailed, though a warrant for his arrest has been issued.

A photo and more on the investigators’ search for Butler are available on the KCPQ/13’s website for the Washington’s Most Wanted program.

Delgardo, 24, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of first-degree robbery, second-degree assault and second-degree robbery.

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Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.