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Vote early and often for this poll will come down in a few days.
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Posted at 10:32 PM
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Be Careful Out There (and at Home)!
ProJo's account of the scary break-ins on College Hill.
Rash of break-ins has residents worried
01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 12, 2007
By Gregory Smith
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — Dylan Cyr was in his basement bedroom in a College Hill triple-decker about two weeks ago when he heard the doorbell ringing continuously and then a loud crash.
Cyr, 20, came upstairs and encountered a large man forcing his way through the front door, according to a police report. He tried unsuccessfully to push the intruder back out the door.
The man pulled a knife and swung it at Cyr. He missed, Cyr told the police, but he kicked Cyr in the face, knocking him to the floor. Cyr heard a second man call out, “Hold him down” and the sound of his television set being pulled from its stand.
This unusually violent break-in just before 8 a.m. Nov. 28 and two other East Side break-ins are now the focus of a police investigation. And they were the main topic of discussion at a College Hill neighborhood meeting last week. In all three incidents, someone was home when the thieves broke in.
“Whether the suspects knew [the houses] were occupied, probably not,” said Lt. Paul Campbell, commander of police District 9, which encompasses the southern part of the East Side.
Cyr suffered a broken tooth and scratches on his face. After the two men left his apartment at 3 Jenckes St., two landscapers at a nearby house watched as the men went to a parked car, removed the rear seat, left the seat on the sidewalk and drove away with Cyr’s TV tucked into the space where the seat used to be.
“There is an intensive investigation that is being led by Detective [William] Dwyer,” said Maj. Stephen Campbell, commander of the police investigative division.
The neighborhood meeting Wednesday in a meeting room at the Rhode Island School of Design was an effort of Campbell, City Councilman Cliff Wood, D-Ward 2, and a few residents.
More than 75 residents came to the session, which was intended to inform them about the crimes and the police response, and to begin a discussion about the possibility of creating a neighborhood crime watch, according to Campbell.
They left, the lieutenant said yesterday, feeling safer, better informed and better connected to their neighbors.
A substantial police contingent was on hand, which included Police Chief Dean M. Esserman, Capt. William Campbell, detectives Dwyer and Angelo A’Vant, Sgt. Daniel Gannon and patrolmen Jimmy Lamboy, Joshua Greeno and Ricky Piccirillo.
There were two earlier break-ins, according to the police, including an incident in which homeowner Stephen M. Viera, 39, of 89 Halsey St., College Hill, was upstairs in his home shortly before 11:30 a.m., Nov. 23, when he heard the sound of glass breaking downstairs.
An astounded Viera, who called 911, saw two men in their 20s stealing his 48-inch LCD television set. The intruders wielded a wooden railroad tie to break in the front door.
In both the Nov. 23 and Nov. 28 break-ins, the thieves used stolen cars, according to Campbell. In the Cyr case, the car was found abandoned outside the Petco store at 585 N. Main St. The police used a VIN number engraved on the discarded rear seat to confirm that it was the vehicle used in the break-in.
The stolen car belongs to Stephanie Lee, a RISD student from Long Island, N.Y., according to the police. She did not know it had been stolen until an officer contacted her.
In the Viera case, the car was stolen in Attleboro and it was found.
In the third case, James DeRentis, 46, was at home at 154 Arlington Ave., also on the East Side, shortly before 9 p.m. Nov. 26 when he, too, heard the sound of breaking glass. There was no intruder, but a thief broke the window with rocks and managed to reach through and get away with two laptop computers.
Campbell said the police believe the crimes were done by the same men because of the similarity of the methods, the descriptions of the suspects and the locations where the two stolen cars were abandoned.
gsmith@projo.com
Posted at 05:56 PM
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Armed Violence at Brown / Mt Hope Carjacking
In Mt. Hope (excerpt from article below)
•A robbery and carjacking at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on Jenkins Street, Mount Hope. Matthew Bevilacqua, 18, of 106 Jenkins, told the police that he was a passenger in a car and that a man with a gun tucked into his waistband ordered Bevilacqua and the driver, identified only as Calvin, out of the car. The robber took Bevilacqua’s cell phone and keys and stole the car. Neither the man identified as Calvin, nor the vehicle could be located, the police said.
Brown student mugged at gunpoint
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, December 11, 2007
PROVIDENCE — The police are investigating several robberies that occurred in recent days, including the gunpoint mugging of a student on the Brown University campus in which one of the attackers left a shoeprint on the face of the student.
Ethan Curren, 19, of 27 Brown St., was walking on the campus behind a building at 182 George St. shortly after 1 a.m. Friday when he was set upon by a group of young males, according to the city and university police. One man approached him on the pretext of asking directions to Thayer Street, but he then pressed a handgun to Curren’s neck.
Curren said he was told to “take off everything,” but that he punched the gunman in the face. The group then attacked him en masse, he told the police, and he was knocked to the ground and struck numerous times.
His assailants stole his wallet, which contained $80 to $100 and credit cards, a knife and his backpack, which contained a cell phone and textbooks. The books later were recovered in Cranston.
Curren suffered cuts and bruises and a possible bone fracture. He was treated at Rhode Island Hospital.
The university Department of Public Safety issued a crime alert to the Brown community and reiterated its longstanding advice about walking after dark. The alert said, in part: “The intent of most criminals is to target individuals who appear vulnerable, isolated and preoccupied. Initiating conversation, such as asking for directions or money, is often a tactic used by criminals to create an opportunity for an assault or robbery.”
Other incidents that are under investigation are:
•A purse-snatching at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the Super Stop & Shop supermarket, 850 Manton Ave., Manton. Lindsey Procaccini, 32, of Cranston, said she was approaching her parked car when someone in another car reached out and grabbed her pocketbook. Procaccini clung to the pocketbook and as the car dragged her a short distance, she suffered cuts and scrapes on her hands, knees and hip before she lost her grip, the police said. The pocketbook contained her wallet, cell phone and medication. Procaccini was treated at Roger Williams Hospital.
•An attempted robbery at about 5 p.m. Sunday in the vicinity of Greeley and Charles streets in the North End. Cerenia Augosto, 46, of 48 Opper St., which is near Greeley and Charles, said she was coming from a friend’s house when a man wearing a mask accosted her with a gun and demanded money. Augosto ran to her house and the would-be robber got nothing, according to the police. Officers later arrested Ryan Martin, 18, of Cranston, and he was charged with assault with intent to rob.
•A robbery and carjacking at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on Jenkins Street, Mount Hope. Matthew Bevilacqua, 18, of 106 Jenkins, told the police that he was a passenger in a car and that a man with a gun tucked into his waistband ordered Bevilacqua and the driver, identified only as Calvin, out of the car. The robber took Bevilacqua’s cell phone and keys and stole the car. Neither the man identified as Calvin, nor the vehicle could be located, the police said.
Posted at 05:51 PM
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Doyle Shooting and Home Invasion
Another illustration of the increase in crime in the area is the recent shooting near Camp & Doyle which made the TV news but which ProJo did not report on and this scary home invasion from late October.
Couple these with the recent scary home invasions and armed robbery and beatings on College Hill, articles to come soon, and you will begin to get the picture.
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3 arrested in Doyle Ave. home invasion
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
By Gregory Smith
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE — The police have acknowledged that an armed home invasion occurred on Doyle Avenue on the East Side 2 1/2 weeks ago and that a woman was forced to disrobe during the crime.
But three of the four alleged culprits — they are members of a West End street gang — have been arrested and are being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions, Maj. Stephen Campbell said yesterday.
“This is a very serious crime,” Campbell said. “It was a difficult investigation because there wasn’t a clear direction” to take. “It was really just keen investigative work” that paid off in good arrests.
Fingerprints taken at the scene of another break-in, in Silver Lake, led to the victims’ identification of part-time janitor Dennis J. McDonald, 17, of 383 Sayles St., South Providence, as a youth who wielded a handgun during the home invasion, according to Campbell.
The incident occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Oct. 12. Two of the three tenants of a second-floor apartment at 38 Doyle Ave., Michael Fetta and his girlfriend, Mia Shaffer, both 24, were at home when they heard a crash. Four men had kicked in the rear door of the apartment, one of whom was armed with a gun.
They were looking for money, drugs and drug paraphernalia, the police said, but could not find any. Asked if there actually were drugs in the apartment, Campbell declined comment. Instead, the invaders settled for electronic equipment, according to a police report.
Fetta was forced to lie face down on the floor, and Shaffer fled to a bedroom and locked herself in. That door was kicked in, too, and Shaffer was taken to another bedroom, where she was forced to strip naked and then join Fetta face-down on the floor, the police related.
Shaffer was in fear for her life but she was not sexually assaulted, Campbell said, and detectives do not know why she was forced to strip.
One robber, according to detectives, repeatedly demanded of Shaffer, “Any other merchandise? Any other merchandise?”
After about 10 minutes of ransacking the apartment, the robbers forced the pair into a closet, uninjured, and shoved some things in front of the closet in order to make it difficult to open the door.
When they believed the robbers had left, Fetta and Shaffer pushed their way out of the closet and ran to the McDonald’s restaurant at the University Heights shopping center, where they called the police.
Among the items listed as stolen were a desktop computer with 20-inch monitor, a laptop computer, an external computer hard drive, two cell phones, two iPods, a digital video camera and a PlayStation 2 console.
Neither victim knew the robbers, according to detectives, but a break-in two days later, at 20 Sanford St., Silver Lake, led to the solution of the crime, Campbell said.
Detectives Patricia Cornell and Thomas Masse lifted fingerprints at the scene of the break-in that were said to be those of McDonald, a member of the Hanover Street Boyz gang whose appearance matched the description of one of the East Side robbers. When Fetta and Shaffer were shown a photo array, they identified McDonald, Campbell related.
Two patrol officers went to the Fox Point Recreation Center, where McDonald was working as a janitor, and arrested him. He was charged with first-degree robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence.
McDonald also is charged with breaking and entering into the house of Marleny Batista, at 20 Sanford, where he allegedly used a pry bar to open a rear door and stole a computer game and a DVD player. Cranston police also have a charge of breaking and entering pending against McDonald.
Further investigation led to the apprehension of two more suspects in the East Side invasion who are alleged Hanover Street Boyz: Moises A. “Paco” Perez, 19, whose home address was not immediately available, who was arrested at his job at the Lowe’s home improvement store in Cranston, where he mixes paint; and Kenneth Minier, 17, of 204 Longfellow St., Wanskuck, who was arrested at his home.
Both were charged with first-degree robbery, burglary, possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, and conspiracy to commit burglary.
The police have recovered a firearm but Campbell said it remains to be determined whether it was the one used in the home invasion.
The major praised the work of Detective Sgt. William Dwyer, who is leading the investigation, Detective Angelo A’Vant and others assisting in the investigation, and said it was a prime example of intradepartmental coordination, in which officers pool their knowledge about the criminal element.
gsmith@projo.com
Posted at 04:48 PM
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Criminal Activity on the Rise?
I've had a feeling that criminal activity has been on the rise in Mt. Hope lately.
My white picket fence on Camp street has been vandalized 3 times in the last month and yesterday they pulled down an entire eight foot section, which I immediately repaired.
In addition some knucklehead has a supply of firecrackers and has been shooting them off up near the Crossroads, Camp & Cypress, for the last week.
Yesterday I saw a three man foot-patrol around 5 thirty within hours after my fence had been vandalized but several hours before another round of firecrackers went off. They did not seem to have an impact on either event.
When a police officer came at our request to report the vandalized fence my wife had to cajole a report out of him. He repeatedly asked her if she was sure it had been vandalized and it wasn't the wind that blew it down. A picket fence, for chris-sake, you know the kind that the wind blows right through, right between the pickets, which are at least 5 inches apart.
I've noticed a group of young men, maybe 18 to 22, walking back and forth from Pleasant street to the Crossroads lately and I suspect them as the vandals. I also see them stop to look into any cars parked along Camp, looking, I suppose, to see if there is anything in plain sight that they could break in and steal.
I'm sure others have made similar observations.
John
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Posted at 04:12 PM
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Hightime for Lowlifes
Yes, we have some nice graffiti on the side of our building. Couple that with my roommate's rims being stolen and the constant trespassing by neighborhood lowlifes, it's been a good month!
Adam
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Posted at 02:31 PM
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December 11, 2007
Grating Graffiti Spikes on Grand view
There has been much graffiti occurring on Grand View and Tecumseh.
One common theme this graffiti has are the initials "DTS".
I like to think that this disgraceful act is being done by a child and not an adult. Not only is it disrespectful to the community and the individual homeowners whose homes are vandalized but it is also an eyesore.
Has anyone else noticed a spike in Graffiti in any other areas?
I hope someone sees this bastard and calls the police.
D. Cregg
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Posted at 10:30 AM
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