Police Log

Posted 9/9/14

ELECTRIC SCAM

There were three more instances of local businesspeople being scammed by a telephone caller (or callers) who claims to be from National Grid.

Officer Julio Benros spoke with the …

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Police Log

Posted

ELECTRIC SCAM

There were three more instances of local businesspeople being scammed by a telephone caller (or callers) who claims to be from National Grid.

Officer Julio Benros spoke with the owner of Irving Oil on Post Road who said a man called and said his electricity would be shut off that day if he did not immediately forward the cash to the caller. The man said he went to Walgreen’s as instructed and bought a Green Dot money card for $400 and then gave the scammer the number of the card over the telephone. He said he later called National Grid and learned it was a scam, and was advised to call the police. The report was forwarded to detectives. Benros said there was no known suspect at the time.

Officer Joshua Myer reported that the owner of Timmy’s Restaurant on West Shore Road told him he got a call from a man claiming to be with National Grid who said he was going to turn off the electricity at the restaurant if they did not get $1,000 that day. He instructed the business owner to go to Walgreen’s where he bought two Green Dot cash cards worth $500 and gave the man the number of the cards over the phone. He said he later realized he had been scammed and called Green Dot, who advised they would file a fraud complaint but that it was too late to stop payment on the cards. Myer said he took custody of the Green Dot cards and forwarded his report.

The owner of the Vintage Barbershop reported that she got the same sort of call. The caller said she had been “pink slipped” to have her electricity shut off if she did not send $499.98 by way of Green Dot cards. She said the caller told her his name was “Kevin Brown,” but he had an accent she believed was South American. She told Officer Tammy Mello she realized it was a scam and did not send the money. She called the police.

There have been at least four other incidents of people being told they owe taxes or other bills that need to be paid immediately to avoid shut-offs or arrest. They invariably have involved buying and giving the caller numbers for Green Dot cash cards available at any number of retailers in the area.

WARRANTED

Officer Scott Chanthaphouvong reports he was dispatched to the Walmart at the Rhode Island Mall on Aug. 22 for a shoplifting in progress. He said he arrived to find a loss prevention agent pointing at a woman attempting to enter a gold Nissan in the parking lot. He said he arrested the woman and put her in the back seat of his cruiser. He said it was determined that the man in the car had nothing to do with the theft, and he was released at the scene. Loss prevention said they had the woman on video surveillance while she was in the store, and they had video of her selecting and then concealing the merchandise in a number of Walmart shopping bags she brought with her. Loss prevention said they had $239.22 worth of recovered merchandise. Chanthaphouvong said he ran a check and learned there was a warrant out for failure to appear for a restitution hearing in an embezzlement case in Providence. He said her wrist was swollen with some unknown infection and he applied the handcuffs loosely. She was taken to headquarters and processed and later transported to Kent Hospital for treatment of her wrist.

LARCENIES

Officer Tammy Mello reports that a Tarawa Drive resident was very upset when a wooden windmill went missing from her yard. She said it was a gift from her husband and disappeared sometime while they were in the process of moving from her current address to a new home in Cranston. There were no suspects or witnesses.

Police went to the West Bay Manor on Aug. 31 for a report for a theft from a motor vehicle. The 19-year-old owner of the vehicle told police it was parked in front of his girlfriend’s house on Dahlia Street overnight, and he returned to the car to find his backpack with a laptop computer worth $550 and about $50 worth of DVDs were missing. There were no suspects.

Officer Quentin Tavares reports he went to Planet Fitness on Pace Boulevard around 5:20 p.m. on Aug. 26. He said he met with a witness who told him he just saw a man smash the window of a car, grab the purse and then take off in a 1994 gold Camry headed north. He said the suspect was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, stood roughly 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighed approximately 150 pounds. He said the passenger in the Camry had short hair. Tavares said he went inside the gym to find the owner of the Mazda CRX. She told Tavares she left her purse in her locked car and that it contained about $20 in cash and a number of credit cards and bankcards, along with her license, Social Security card and her checkbook.

Officer Kevin McGuire took a report of larcenies from two vehicles parked on Baldwin Road on Aug. 28. A GPS unit worth $200 and a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses worth $180 were missing from the unlocked vehicles. There were no suspects or witnesses.

DUI AND REFUSAL

Officer Nicholas Reay reports he was dispatched to the area near Lakewood Liquors for a report of a DUI in progress, heading south, toward Hoxsie Four Corners. Reay said he spotted a light colored SUV that fit the description at Warwick Avenue and Airport Road. He said he saw the vehicle turn onto Airport Road and hit the curb before he turned on his lights and pulled it over in the Hess station. He said the driver appeared to be drunk. He said he explained to the driver why he was pulled over, and the driver explained that he had been at a funeral in Providence earlier, consumed a lot of beer and wine and got lost on his way home to Central Falls. He said a heavy aroma of cologne came from the car and there was a spray bottle on the console, as if the driver had just sprayed himself with the cologne. He said he got the man out in the open air and the cologne dissipated, but the alcohol odor persisted. He said the driver failed a field sobriety test and was taken to headquarters, where he registered a .222 and a .235 blood alcohol content on the breath test. Alphonso T. Soe, 48, of 63 Earle St. in Central Falls, was charged with DUI and later released.

Officer Aaron Kay reports being on a DUI enforcement detail around 12:55 a.m. on Aug. 23 when he clocked a car doing 55 mph on the Post Road extension. He said the car was swerving over the road and bouncing up and down because of speed bumps and continued to leave its travel lane as it entered Main Avenue. He said it was slow to respond to his lights and siren but did stop at Greenfield Avenue. He said the driver told him he and his friends were coming from the Foxy Lady. Kay said he asked him to lower the windows on the SUV because the heavy tint prevented him and the North Kingstown police officer he was working with from seeing his passengers. He said they were going to one of the guy’s residence because the Foxy Lady did not let one of them in without and ID. He said he asked the driver to get out of the vehicle for a field test and noticed that he lost his balance and stumbled. He said the driver admitted he had been injured in the past but not in a way that prevented him from taking a sobriety test. He said the driver failed the test and was taken to headquarters, where he refused any further tests.

Marcus Goodrich, 21, of 365 Bayview Ave. in Cranston, was charged with DUI and refusal and several probation violations and held for arraignment. One of his passengers, identified as Joseph C. Ead, 21, of 67 River St. in West Warwick, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. The wife of another passenger showed up and was allowed to drive the vehicle from the scene. Goodrich was later transported to the ACI for the probation violations.

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