Lammis Vargas

Vargas named deputy treasurer

Ward 1 City Councilwoman Lammis Vargas, who was worked in the Rhode Island general treasurer’s office since 2015, has been promoted to the title of deputy treasurer.

Vargas will retain her role as director of unclaimed property, General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said in a May 26 statement announcing the move.

“As Treasurer, my top priority is providing Rhode Islanders with financial security and promoting economic growth. Lammis has played a critical role in our Office's efforts for the past six years,” Magaziner said in the statement. “I am grateful to have Lammis and her expertise in this new capacity as we build a strong economic recovery for Rhode Island.”

Vargas, in the statement, added: “I thank Treasurer Magaziner for his faith in me, and I am excited to serve the people of Rhode Island in this new capacity. I have had unique opportunities to make our state run more efficiently, and elevate Rhode Island nationally as the former Regional Vice President of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. I look forward to continuing my more than one decade of public service and helping to ensure a full and broad based economic recovery for the State.”

Magaziner’s statement highlights the role Vargas has played in the rollout of the YourMoney system in the treasurer’s office, which “automatically reunite thousands of individuals with their missing money.” Rhode Island recently expanded that program to include nonprofit organizations and small businesses, and Vargas was a prominent part of a statewide tour with Magaziner to highlight that program. Overall, according to the statement, Vargas has overseen the return of over $78 million in unclaimed property through more than 110,000 claims.

Vargas, a Democrat, is in her second term representing Ward 1 on the Cranston City Council.

Council recognizes Gun Violence Awareness Day

The City Council on May 24 unanimously approved a resolution designating the first Friday in June at National Gun Violence Awareness Day, while officials and members of the public acknowledged the recent shooting death of a 19-year-old Cranston High School East graduate in Pawtucket.

The resolution includes a number of statistics surrounding gun violence, and states that “support for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous histories.” It urges Cranstonians to join other Americans in wearing orange on June 4 – a nod to the color worn by hunters, meant to symbolize the “value of human life.”

Candace Brown Casey of Moms Demand Action spoke in support of the resolution and noted that gun violence has touched the Cranston community. She cited the death of firefighter James Pagano several years ago and, more, recently, the death of Tatyana Francois, who was a member of Cranston East’s class of 2020. She was shot while sitting in her car outside a home in Pawtucket last month. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for her family, and it can be found at gofund.me/5fb30cee.

“Her death really highlights how all communities are connected on this issue … That light was put out far too soon,” Brown Casey said.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Aniece Germain said Francois’s death has been “very hard” for the local Haitian community.

“[She was] full of life, and had big dreams. And we buried her … Gun violence is not Providence problem. It’s not a Pawtucket problem, it’s not a Cranston problem. It’s our problem as a community,” she said.

AG: Man sentenced to prison on ‘ghost gun,’ drug charges

A Cranston man who pleaded no contest to possession of cocaine and a “ghost gun” has been sentenced to four years in state prison, according to the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Authorities say Romeo Chet, 20, was arrested in February after Cranston and Providence Police, along with ATF personnel, executed a search warrant at his Cranston Street home and recovered a 30-round 9mm pistol “without identifying marks,” multiple rounds of ammunition, and “7.7 grams of cocaine packaged into 17 small bags.”

The search was the result of a “month-long investigation into ghost gun trafficking in the greater Providence area,” according to a statement from Neronha’s office. “Ghost guns” lack serial numbers and in some cases are created through 3-D printing or others processes, rendering them untraceable.

“Firearms that can be assembled after purchasing individual components online without markings or serial numbers are the weapon of choice for felons and other career criminals seeking to avoid identification by law enforcement,” Cranston Police Chief Col. Michael Winquist said in the attorney general’s statement.

Superior Court Justice Linda Rekas Sloan on May 13 handed down a 10-year sentence to Chet, with four years to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions and the remainder suspended with probation.

-- Daniel Kittredge