MUSHROOMS

At 2:04 p.m., March 4, Warwick Police responded to the Best Western Airport Inn to eject a subject.

A man was yelling and refusing to leave a room, according to the arrest report.

Motel staff told police they wanted the man in Room 113 ejected. He answered the door and was later identified as Daniel F. Golden, 28, of 727 Atwood Ave., Cranston. 

“Golden asked us to come into his room to speak with him,” Warwick Police Officer Robert S. Macera wrote in the report. “We advised him that he was going to have to pack all his belongings and leave, at the request of the hotel.”

While talking to Golden, police spotted “a large bag” on the nightstand between the beds.

“I noticed a dry mushroom like substance, which I knew through my training and combined experience, to be mushrooms containing Psilocybin,” Macera wrote. “It should be known that in the large bag there was 5 bags individually divided up also including a scale with residue on the scale.”

Golden was handcuffed and read his rights. Police transported Golden to Warwick Police Headquarters, where he was processed and secured in a cell. The bag of mushrooms tested positive for Psilocybin and weighed 174 grams.

Police charged Golden with Possession of a Schedule I-V Controlled Substance (greater than 10 grams, but less than an ounce).

LARCENY

Around 5 p.m., March 9, Warwick Police were dispatched to a Warwick Avenue apartment for the report of a stolen catalytic converter.

Police spoke to the reporting party, who told them that someone had stolen the catalytic converter form her silver Honda CRV, some time since March 7.

The report was forwarded to the Warwick Detectives Unit for follow-up investigation.

DUI

Around 9:05 p.m., March 10, Warwick Police Officer Alejandro J. Martinez was on routine patrol near the intersection of Coronado and Post roads, when he spotted a silver sedan traveling south on Post Road at a high rate of speed.

Martinez followed the vehicle and watched as it allegedly ran a red light. He initiated a traffic stop on Aviation Avenue. The 2023 Toyota Corolla had a temporary registration.

Police later identified the driver as James A. Demoranville, 39, of 204 Rockdale Ave., New Bedford, Massachusetts. Demoranville, however, first allegedly gave police a false name.

Martinez spotted a small clear plastic cup containing a brown liquid in the cup holder. He identified the liquid as alcohol.

Demoranville was unable to provide documentation, and was seen “reading into his jacket, then down into the door jam/floor board area on the driver’s side.”

Police smelled alcohol on Demoranville and said he was unsteady on his feet. They asked him to consent to a series of standardized field sobriety tests. He complied.

Following the tests, Demoranville was charged with one count of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicating Liquor and/or Drugs. He was also charged with one count of Obstructing an Officer in Execution of Duty. He also received a citation for Refusal to Submit to Chemical Test (first offense),  Obedience to Traffic Control Devices, No License on Person (Exhibited on Demand), and Driving with Suspended/Revoked/Canceled License.

RI State Police HIDTA Task Force seizes 20 ghost guns

A Pawtucket man has been arrested on 163 weapon and drug charges.

On Wednesday afternoon, Rhode Island State Police (RISP) announced that its HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Task Force arrested Ferdinando Lombardi, 56, of 174 Windmill St., Second Floor, Pawtucket on weapons and drug charges following “an extensive investigation.”

The sting yielded “more than 20 complete ghost guns and other weapons, including large capacity feeding devices,” according to a RISP press release.

“Any day we can take this many illegal weapons off the street is a great day for public safety in Rhode Island,” said RISP Col. Darnell S. Weaver, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and Director of the Department of Public Safety. “I am thankful for the hard work of our detectives and grateful for the collaboration we enjoy with the other law enforcement agencies that work on our HIDTA task force.”

The HIDTA Task Force started its investigation into Lombardi and developed “information that this individual may also be in possession of privately made firearms, otherwise known as ‘ghost guns,’” according to state police.

The task force executed a search warrant at Lombardi’s Pawtucket residence on Tuesday, March 28. Police seized “more than 20 ghost guns, 5 other illegal firearms, ghost gun parts, 30 grams of fentanyl, 12 grams of cocaine, drug sales paraphernalia and $7,621.”

Lombardi was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver (for cocaine and fentanyl). He also faces the following weapons charges: Possession of a Firearm by Certain Persons Prohibited (43 Counts); Possession of a Firearm When Committing a Controlled Substance Violation (43 Counts); Large Capacity Feeding Device(s) Prohibited (38 Counts); and Possession of a Ghost Gun (39 counts).

Lombardi was arrested on Tuesday, March 28, and arraigned at the Lincoln Woods Barracks by a Justice of Peace and held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institution (ACI). He was expected to be arraigned at 6th Division District Court on Wednesday.

The HIDTA Task Force is comprised of members from the RISP, DEA Providence District Office, the Rhode Island National Guard Counterdrug Program, and municipal police departments from Providence, North Providence, Lincoln, Middletown, Bristol and Narragansett