Johnston Police Log

The Police Log is a digest of reports provided by the Johnston Police, Rhode Island State Police and other departments.

FRAUDULENT CHECKS

Lt. Stephen Altomari and Patrolman Louis Cotoia met with Pawtucket Police Department personnel on the evening of June 13 to take custody of Julio Goncalves, 43, of Main Street in Pawtucket.

Goncalves was wanted on a Johnston Police Department warrant for a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent checks under $1,500. Goncalves was issued a Third Division District Court summons to appear Sept. 28.

Goncalves’ arrest stemmed from an alleged incident that took place Nov. 29, 2016. Patrolman Matthew Winsor responded to a location whose name has been redacted and spoke with a party that said Goncalves had paid with a check for $213, which was eventually returned with a message saying the check was returned due to “not sufficient funds.”

The party said that on July 13, 2016, she mailed a certified letter to Gonclaves advising him that the check was returned, and that payment must be made within seven business days or the matter would be reported to Johnston Police.

She told Winsor that Gonclaves never contacted their department or made an attempt to make a payment. LARCENY

Detective Ryan Lemieux wrote that on the afternoon of June 12, Ronny Sanford, 20, of Lafayette Street in Johnston, was taken into custody without incident in Johnston.

Sanford was charged with one count of larceny under $1,500, and he was given a Third Division District Court summons to appear on Sept. 28. Sanford’s arrest stemmed from an alleged incident that occurred the evening of June 11.

Patrolman Merrick A. Cook responded to a report of a larceny of package. He spoke with the homeowner who said that while he was away from home earlier that afternoon, a package that he ordered from Amazon was delivered to his residence.

He said he received a notification form Amazon on his phone regarding the package’s delivery, but said that when he returned home later that day the item was gone. The homeowner said that he looked at his surveillance footage to see what happened to the package and saw a vehicle drive up to his residence.

He said that a few seconds later, a man ran up to the front porch, took the package and ran away with it. Cook said he watched the video and uploaded a few stills to the report. The package was valued at about $220, according to the homeowner.

The next day, Lemieux said the man contacted the police department and said that he had identified a suspect in the theft of the package. The homeowner said he posted still images of the suspect on Facebook, and went on to say that someone sent him a message identifying Sanford as a potential suspect.

The man said he sent a message to Sanford via the Facebook Messenger app, but did not receive a response. He then sent a message to someone who knew Sanford, but whose relationship to him was redacted. The reporting party did receive a message back from them, saying, “Ok if you can please give me your address I will make him return the stuff when he gets out of work.”

Just more than 20 minutes later, the man said he received a message from Sanford saying he would deliver the items shortly after he got out of work.

Lemieux and two other officers waited in the vicinity for Sanford to arrive at around 3 p.m., and he showed up 35 minutes later. Lemieux said he arrived in the same vehicle depicted in the surveillance footage. He exited the car with a plastic grocery bag in hand, and Lemieux walked up to him and advised him he was under arrest for suspicion of larceny.

Inside the bag were stolen items, and while speaking with his passenger, she advised there were other items in the vehicle. Lemieux said there was an unobstructed view of two open cardboard boxes in the backseat. The detective found a phone number for the owner of the packages via in-house records. She told Lemieux she was missing two packages that were delivered June 11. She said she was not sure if she wanted to pursue a criminal complaint at that time. Lemieux said the items that she said were missing matched those found in Sanford’s backseat, and he noted that the detective said he would return them to her.