Police Log

Posted 10/16/14

The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Warwick Police and other Law Enforcement agencies.

UNEMPLOYMENT CHEATS

 

Yesterday, Col. Stephen O’Connell of the Rhode Island …

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Police Log

Posted

The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Warwick Police and other Law Enforcement agencies.

UNEMPLOYMENT CHEATS

Yesterday, Col. Stephen O’Connell of the Rhode Island State Police announced a number of arrests of people from across the state accused of defrauding the State Department of Labor and Training out of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits. Among them were two men from Warwick: Derek Sebastiao, 34, of 44 Desmar Ct., charged with stealing $21,720 in fraudulently obtained benefits; and Javier Rivera, 40, of 20 Messer St., for $10,976 in fraudulent payments.

In September 2013, the Department of Labor and Training and the Office of the Attorney General agreed to fund a prosecutor who specializes in unemployment insurance fraud, workers' comp fraud and other labor related offenses. In the past year, the Office of the Attorney General has successfully prosecuted approximately 30 criminal cases involving unemployment insurance fraud, workers' compensation fraud and employers' failure to pay employee wages with court ordered restitution in the amount of approximately $282,000.

Those arrested during this investigation were arraigned on the felony charge in Sixth Division District Court and released on personal recognizance. Collectively, these individuals are said to have fraudulently collected unemployment benefits totaling $304,253. The highest amount any one individual is charged with fraudulently collecting is $38,287, identified as Jason Hadley, 35, of 5 Mill St. in Putnam, Conn.

LOST AND FOUND

A Warwick woman told police she came to headquarters on Oct. 9 to claim a purse of hers that was stolen at Aldi’s supermarket on Quaker Lane. She said she was told someone found it near Beach and Church Avenues and turned it into police. Officer Sokphannareth Chea said he was about to put the purse into the property room when the woman arrived. He reported she was the woman pictured on the driver’s license in the purse and it was turned over to her. She reported that two Alex and Ani bracelets worth $30 each were missing, along with her Visa card and a $30 gift card for DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse). She said she wasn’t sure if her nurse’s identification card was in the purse when it was stolen, but it wasn’t there when she got the purse back.

BED TIME

Officer Julio Benros reported he was dispatched to the Walmart store on Post Road around noon on Oct. 12 for a shoplifting in progress. He said he was almost there when dispatch corrected the call and said a suspicious person was being watched. He said they cancelled the second officer sent and he went to do a short post in the parking lot pending more from loss prevention. He said he was in the lot when loss prevention reported a man wearing a green army hat and a gray hoodie was leaving the store with a cart full of merchandise he didn’t pay for. He said he stopped the man near the entrance on Post Road and loss prevention identified the stuff in the cart as store property. Loss prevention said they recovered $669.79 worth of bedding from the cart. Chester Orlinski, 57, of 28 Railroad St., Central Falls, was arrested and charged with shoplifting. He said they also discovered an outstanding warrant from Attleboro PD that they were willing to extradite him for. He was held pending the arrival of Attleboro officers.

SHOCKING THEFT

An electrical engineer staying at the Courtyard by Marriott at 55 Jefferson Blvd. told police he came back to his car around 6:45 a.m. on Oct. 14 and found the back window of his rental car smashed and two cases containing electrical instruments and tools were missing. He said two AEMC Digital Mega Ohm meters that cost $5,000 each were in the cases. He said an Omega Gauss Meter worth $1,000; a Fluke Digital multi-meter that cost $1,000; a Simpson Analog Volt-Ohm meter worth $2,000; and about $1,000 worth of miscellaneous tools was also gone, for a total of $15,000. He said he last saw the vehicle around 11:30 the night before. Officer Brian Murray said there were no other vehicles nearby that were damaged. No suspects, no surveillance, no witnesses. The man worked for an electrical engineering company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa.

PICKED POCKETBOOK

A Warwick woman told police she zipped up her purse when she entered the Walmart at Rhode Island Mall around 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 5 and noticed that it was unzipped when she was going to the checkout and her wallet was missing. She said she checked the car and called the store she was in earlier to be sure it was missing. She said she never felt anything, even though the purse was slung over her shoulder. She said $450 in cash, credit cards, health IDs and a checkbook were in the wallet. No witnesses or suspects.

TRY PLEXIGLAS

Officer Michelle Caron went to the Washington Trust Bank on Centerville Road on Oct. 10 to take a complaint of a broken window. The manager showed her the front window on the side of the door facing Centerville Road was broken. There was a large rock on the floor inside but no cameras were pointed toward the door. She told Caron this was the third time in as many years that the window has been broken and she has no idea who did it. She said it cost $300 to repair each time. The window was not connected to an alarm. There are no suspects or witnesses.

NO SMOKES

Officer Nadine Parmenter went to the Valero gas station at 1625 Post Rd. on Oct. 10 around 1:20 p.m. The owner told Parmenter his employees arrived at 6 a.m. that day and found that the phone, the fax machine, the registers and all their communications were offline. He said they called Verizon, who came and said the phone lines to the building had been cut. The owner said he had no video surveillance on that part of the building. He said the only suspect he could think of is a customer the day before who was upset when the owner refused to sell him cigarettes. No witnesses.

MISSING DINGHY

Officer Gilda Fortier reported a dinghy missing from the Brewer Greenwich Bay Marina on Oct. 10. The owner said the dinghy was a 10-foot AB inflatable with a hard bottom and a 15-horsepower Mercury outboard. He said gas cans, oars and lifejackets were in the boat and the lot was worth about $3,500. No suspects or witnesses. The report was forwarded to detectives.

DUI AND REFUSAL

Officer Jeremy Smith reported pulling over a car on Route 37 for swerving from lane to lane around 1:15 a.m. on Oct. 4. He said the driver smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated. He said he ordered the driver out of the car for a field sobriety test and noticed he had to hold onto the car for balance. He said he stopped the one-legged stand portion of the test when it appeared the driver would fall when standing on one foot. He said the driver was arrested and taken to headquarters, where he refused to take a breath test. Michael T. Castaldi, 29, of 23 Logan St., Warwick, was charged with DUI and refusal and later released to a sober adult.

Officer Randy Francis was on patrol around 11:50 p.m. on Oct. 5 when he saw a green van spin out off the Airport Connector onto Post Road and speed up heading south on Post. He said the van traveled about a quarter of a mile before it responded to his lights and siren and pulled over. Francis said the man smelled of alcohol and appeared to be drunk as he got out of the van and leaned on it for balance. He said the driver failed a field sobriety test and was taken to headquarters, where he refused to take a breath test. Brian A. Jabagjorian, 55, of 20 Kane Ave., Warwick, was charged with DUI and refusal and later released to a sober adult.

On Oct. 8 Officer Stephen Major reported he stopped a car on Greenwich Avenue around 5:40 p.m. after it made an illegal turn and after a dispatch describing the same car as a suspected drunk driver came over the air. He said the driver appeared to be drunk and could not stand on his own. He said the man admitted he took a painkiller earlier and failed a field sobriety test. Major said two officers were needed to get him out of the cruiser at headquarters. He said he had to push him to the breath machine in a chair with wheels rather than have him walk. He said the man refused to give a breath sample. Colin S. Hayes, 46, of 35 Custer St., Warwick, was charged with speeding and laned roadway violation in addition to refusal and DUI. He was later released to a sober adult. 

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