BENEFIT FRAUD

Jose Sepulveda (aka Jose Perez), age 39, with a last known address of 1218 Elmwood Ave., Warwick, pled nolo contendere Monday in Superior Court to one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for collecting more than $4,000 in unemployment insurance benefits for his deceased girlfriend, Darlene Brady.  

Sepulveda was sentenced to seven years, with one year to serve at the ACI and six years suspended with probation. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $4,430 to the State of Rhode Island.

Between November and December of 2011, Sepulveda applied for extended unemployment benefits in the name of his recently deceased girlfriend.

“When a person passes away, the normal reaction of those they leave behind is to mourn, not to try to use the death to fraudulently claim monetary benefits,” said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin. “The sentenced imposed upon this defendant reflects the callous nature of his crime.”

CLEANED OUT

On Oct. 22 Officer Tammy Mello took a report of a storage truck being broken into at the CVS store at 198 Buttonwoods Ave. The manager told her they found the door to the truck open and two boxes of bottled bleach worth $47.84; 30 packages of Bounty paper towels valued at $248.70; eight boxes of Scott single-roll toilet paper worth $342.72; and two boxes of CVS paper towels worth $59.80 were gone. A total of $699.14 worth of goods were missing and there were no suspects or witnesses.

LARCENIES

A girl’s BMX style bike worth $200 was stolen from the driveway of a house on Myrtle Avenue on Oct. 28. No witnesses or suspects.

A Cranston woman told police she was at the Pizzeria Uno on Bald Hill Road around 2 p.m. on Oct. 28 when her $400 Kindle reader went missing from her car. A $1,000 black Lenovo T440 laptop went missing from another car at the restaurant at the same time. There were no suspects or witnesses for either theft.

A manager at Sparrows Point 1 on Hardig Road told police two LED spotlights used for the sign at the apartment complex went missing sometime over night on Oct. 22. Police reported the wires to the lights had been cut and capped and that they were worth about $800. No suspects or witnesses. The report was forwarded to detectives.

An Elkland Road resident told police her car was parked in her driveway on Oct. 20 when $120 went missing from the vehicle.

Police went to Balise Auto on Post Road for a report of four wheels and tires missing from a 2014 Chevy Silverado pickup that were worth a total of $4,000. Police said the vehicle was left up on jacks and that the jacks came from other vehicles on the lot. The report was forwarded to detectives.

A Narragansett woman told police she was working at the Olive Garden on Universal Boulevard on Oct. 21 and went to retrieve her purse from the trunk of her car. She said it was lighter than usual because the wallet was missing. She said it contained credit cards and IDs and a few dollars. She found a water bottle and some napkins on the passenger seat that police took for processing.

A $1,500 Apple Macbook Pro; an $80 watch; $400 worth of assorted schoolbooks and a Northface backpack worth $100 were taken from and employee’s car parked at the Texas Roadhouse on Quaker Lane on Oct. 15. No witnesses.

A Pennsylvania man told police a $1,400 Nikon camera and six tattoo machines worth $2,000 went missing from his car at the Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard on Oct. 20. No suspects.

SHOPLIFTING

An Attleboro woman was arrested at the Walmart at Rhode Island Mall on Oct. 30 and charged with shoplifting after loss prevention told police she took baby clothing and concealed it in a shopping bag. Kayla Brodeur, 20, of 1116 Washington St., was charged with stealing $97.28. The woman she was with, Stephanie Kelley, 20, of the same address, was charged with stealing 78 items worth $1,271.12 in a baby stroller. A third party, who was not charged, took custody of the baby.

Colleen C. Sawyer, 28, of 140 Park View Ave., Warwick, was charged with stealing $52.22 worth of merchandise from the Walmart store at Rhode Island Mall on Oct. 23. Loss prevention told police it was concealed in a baby stroller. An acquaintance of Sawyer took custody of the child and Sawyer was held overnight for arraignment as a probation violator from a shoplifting conviction earlier this year.

Margaret A. Ayers, 63, of 132 Union Ave., Warwick, was charged with stealing two robes worth $116 from the JC Penney store in Warwick Mall on Oct. 24. She was later released with a summons.

Marc Adam Medeiros, 22, of 78 Sutton St. in Providence, was charged with stealing two Bluetooth speakers worth $92.98 from Kohl’s at Rhode Island Mall on Oct. 24. He was later released with a summons.

Kimberly D. Smith, 37, of 66 Galant Dr., Warwick, was charged with stealing a cell phone worth $199.88 from the Walmart store on Post Road on Oct. 25. Loss prevention told police she fled in a Jeep Cherokee that was traced to her residence. Officer Jason Cooke said police didn’t find her at home but advised neighbors to have her call them. Cooke said she came into headquarters. She was charged with shoplifting after she told Cooke she took the phone but panicked and threw it away on Post Road. The phone was not recovered and she was later released with a summons.

Johnbra Brown, 18, of 40 Westwood Ave., Cranston, was arrested at the TJ Maxx store on Bald Hill Road on Oct. 25 and charged with stealing clothes and hair products from the store that were worth $71.96. She was later released with a summons.

Ann Marie Gatchell, 59, of 6 Marigold St., Warwick, was charged with shoplifting at the Stop & Shop in Meadowbrook on Oct. 25. Store employees told police they had surveillance of her putting groceries she had not scanned into bags at the self-checkout. They said she took $96.29 worth of groceries that she did not pay for. Officer Adam Arico said the $42.83 worth of groceries that she did pay for was held for her husband to pick up. She was later released with a summons.

EVASION & FRAUD

Sgt. Ryan Sornberger reported he was on a detail at Motel 6 on Jefferson Boulevard around 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 25 when a cab driver informed him that he picked up a woman there, drove her to Providence and back and she wouldn’t pay the fare. Sornberger said the woman was under the influence of something and the driver told him he had to wake her up when they got to Providence and she told him the money was back at the Motel 6, so he drove her back to Warwick. Sornberger said she was just as evasive with them and they search the cab and her room twice before concluding that she didn’t have the money. The driver told police the fare was $35.75. She then claimed that a man she smoked marijuana with took her money. He said Lacey I. Duran, 36, of 166 Pawtucket Ave., Pawtucket, was charged with fraud. He also learned there was a warrant out for her, so she was transported to the ACI.