The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Warwick Police.

EMBEZZLEMENT

A West Warwick woman was charged with embezzling $255 in merchandise from the Wal-Mart store at 650 Ball Hill Rd. on June 22. Officer Stephen Major reported going to the store and speaking with the loss prevention manager who told him he watched a woman in the store select a handbag and removed the paper stuffing from one handbag and replaced it with another handbag with a Wal-Mart tag on it. He said she then went to the women’s department and concealed a few shirts inside the handbag and then went to the back of the store and ripped off the price tag and put the merchandise in her locker before returning to the pharmacy, where she worked. He said he then saw her go on her lunch break, where she took the merchandise out of the locker and walked through the garden entrance of the store to the parking lot, where she put the goods inside her vehicle and sat in the vehicle for the rest of her break. He said she returned to the store after her break without the handbag and was taken by the loss prevention supervisor to be interviewed. He told Major the woman admitted she had taken merchandise numerous times within the past few months, about eight to 10 times, and said she would return the items to the store. Major said he went to the woman’s residence with a West Warwick officer and they recovered five full garbage bags of food and clothing, including a cooler, from her residence she said was from the store. Deborah Case, 52, of 30 Natick Rd., was charged with embezzlement and later released on $2,000 personal recognizance.

ARRESTED RIDER

A Providence man was charged with shoplifting on June 23 after loss prevention at the Sears store in the Rhode Island Mall told Officer Tammy Mello the man arrived at the store on a blue bicycle carrying what appeared to be an empty backpack. Loss prevention said they recognized the man from a few days before, when he left the store with an oversized backpack. They said he went to the T-shirt rack and selected eight shirts, went to the shorts rack and took three pairs of shorts and put them in the backpack. They said they stopped him outside after he left the store without paying for the goods and escorted him back inside. Mello said they recovered eight shirts, three pairs of shorts and one hat worth a total of $299. Brian Michael Gaines, 51, of 1380 Broad St. in Providence was taken to headquarters and charged with shoplifting. Mello said he told her at headquarters that he had been arraigned in Warwick earlier the same day on another shoplifting charge. The bike was taken to headquarters and held for safekeeping.

OLD NEWS

A Warwick man came into headquarters on June 20 to report that a small blue box containing money, an archery hunting license and some membership cards and badges was missing. He said he usually kept the box under the front seat of his pickup truck and it had been at least a month since he saw the box. He said he noticed the box was missing that morning when he was cleaning out the passenger compartment. He said he believed it was taken on a Friday night for some reason but could not be sure.

DWI AND REFUSAL

Officer Brian Murray reported he was on patrol around 9:50 p.m. on June 18 when he saw a car heading west on West Shore Road in the eastbound lane with no lights on. He said the car took an abrupt turn into the 7-Eleven parking lot at Oakland Beach Avenue, almost hitting another vehicle. He said the car stopped in the middle of the lot and he pulled his cruiser behind the car. He said he had the driver get out of the car and noticed that he swayed from side to side and appeared to be intoxicated. He said it became apparent that the driver did not speak English very well and another officer was summoned to the scene to translate. He said Officer Christian Vargas instructed the driver about the field sobriety test and the driver could not complete the one leg stand portion of the test, after faring poorly on the portions of the test just before that. Murray said that Vargas informed the man that he was under arrest for suspicion of drunk driving. Murray said the suspect’s English improved as they were driving to headquarters and the suspect asked questions in English about where he was going, what time he was going to get out and what time he needed to get out. Both Vargas and Murray stated that the suspect continuously pretended he did not fully understand what was going on but made very obvious attempts to avoid taking the breath test for as long as possible before the officers decided the stalling was actually an attempt to avoid the breath test and, at 11:25 p.m., they charged him with refusal. Nicholas Ramirez, 59, of 20 Parker St. in Central Falls was charged with DWI and refusal and taken to Kent Hospital for detox when a ride had not been contacted by 2 a.m. Officer Stephen Major reported he was on a DWI detail around 11:50 p.m. on June 18 when he clocked a car doing 62 mph north on Quaker Lane. He said he followed the car and saw that it did not slow down and took a left onto Cowesett Road without applying the brakes. He said it continued at 62 mph and apparently did not see Major’s cruiser behind it for about a mile until he put on his lights and siren and pulled it over. He said the driver smelled of alcohol and asked him if Major pulled him over for not pulling over for the other patrol car that “had its lights going.” He said the driver made a point of telling him he was a member of the Iron Workers Union, which Major mistook for him saying that he was employed by the Iron Works restaurant on Jefferson Boulevard. He said the driver had to steady himself by holding onto his car. He said the driver was unable to complete the field sobriety test and was arrested for suspicion of DWI. Major said it was determined that the passenger was sober and the vehicle was turned over to her with the owner’s permission. He said the driver, identified as Roy A. Coulombe, 58, of 32 Chabot St. in Lincoln, was charged with DWI, refusal, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and speeding.

LARCENIES

A Pheasant Avenue man told Officer Brian Murray that he returned to his vehicle around 9 a.m. on June 20 and noticed that his vehicle had been entered and four of his laptop computers were missing. He said two conventional laptops and two mini-laptops were missing. Murray said the man explained that he repaired computers but did not have the serial numbers for the missing machines. He said he last saw the machines around midnight the night before. No suspects or witnesses. Officer Jason Brodeur reported he was dispatched to Bald Hill Kia around 10 a.m. on June 22 to take a report of a catalytic converter being cut out of a 2012 Sorento SUV. He told Brodeur the converter was worth $760 and there were no witnesses or suspects. The manager told Brodeur the vehicles were moved to the rear of the business over the weekend, while the lot was being repaved. Brodeur said he checked with residents nearby and none of them reported hearing any metal cutting during the weekend. Brodeur said he observed greasy prints on the front end of the vehicle and the case was forwarded to detectives. Officer Tammy Mello reported a ladder and six six-foot by one-and-a-quarter-inch pipes went missing from a driveway on Adelaide Avenue sometime overnight on June 22. No suspects or witnesses. A Warwick woman came into headquarters on June 20 to report that the handicap plaque for her mother’s vehicle went missing while her mother was shopping at the Wal-Mart store on Post Road June 17. She said the plaque was issued to her 81-year-old mother and the number was 84490. The placard was entered into NCIC. No suspects.