Police Log

Traffic stop leads to drug charges

Sgt. Joseph Salvadore reports patrolling in the area of Killingly Street around midnight on March 14 when he observed a vehicle with New Jersey registration traveling southbound without its rear license plate illuminated.

Salvadore detained the vehicle, and reports the operator’s nose was bleeding. The driver is said to have told the sergeant he was driving to the airport to pick up a friend.

Salvadore’s narrative report indicates he observed an open beer bottle in the vehicle’s center console while speaking with the operator. The sergeant also writes that the operator’s eyes “were extremely dilated under the lighting conditions … and his pants were unbuckled.”

“Based on my experience as a drug recognition expert, a nose bleed as well as dilated pupils are indicative of someone [under] the influence of a stimulant,” the sergeant writes.

Additional officers arrived on scene, and Salvadore reports noticing a white substance in the driver’s nostrils. The driver is said to have acknowledged having snorted cocaine several hours earlier. The sergeant also reports questioning the driver about his unbuckled pants, and observing U.S. currency stuffed in the man’s underwear.

Salvadore writes he instructed the driver to remove the money, and as he did so, “I observed a clear plastic [bag] between his underwear and jeans.” Another officer assisted with the removal of the bag, which the sergeant reports was found to contain “several individually wrapped bags of suspected powder cocaine and small blue pills that based upon my training are identified as 30 [milligram] of Oxycodone.”

The driver was then placed under arrest. Salvadore reports a further search revealed another small bag of what was believed to be cocaine in the man’s pocket, along with “a large amount of money.”

The driver was transported to police headquarters, where Salvadore reports the white powder – contained “in eight individual baggies prepared for distribution” – tested positive for cocaine. The pills were inventoried and found to number 85, with an estimated street value of $2,550.

Henry N. Torres, 32, of 9 Winona St., Apt. 12, in North Providence, was charged with a felony count of manufacturing, possessing, or delivering cocaine; a felony count of manufacturing, possessing, or delivering oxycodone; and a misdemeanor count of driving in possession of a controlled substance.

Attempted shrimp theft

leads to larceny charge

Patrolman Joseph D. Anderson reports responding with other officers to the Price Rite at 1448 Hartford Ave. at approximately 7 p.m. March 17 for a reported larceny.

Upon arrival, the patrolman spoke with the store manager and an employee, who indicated a customer has attempted to steal bags of shrimp by concealing them in a backpack. The same person had stolen shrimp the night before as well, the store personnel told police.

Joan DeJesus, 35, no address listed, was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of larceny under $1,500.

According to Anderson’s report, the backpack contained six bags of shrimp with a total value of $91.94.