The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the Johnston Police. Either Chief Richard S. Tamburini or Deputy Chief David DeCesare has reviewed all reports.

NOT KISSING COUSINS
Patrolman Edward Gonzalez reported an assault at the Firehouse Hot Dogs restaurant on Putnam Avenue around 2:55 a.m. on March 25. He said the victim told him he was visiting a friend who works at the restaurant when his cousin, along with several of his friends, approached him and started an argument. He said it was a brief argument and his cousin walked across the street shortly after that. He told Gonzalez one of his cousin’s friends continued to argue with him until his cousin returned and started punching him in the back of the head several times until he fell down, where he kicked him several times on the ground.
The victim’s friend told Gonzalez she saw the altercation and gave him a written statement to the effect that she saw her friend’s cousin punching him in the back of the head and then kicking him violently “while he was in a fetal position and not fighting back.” She told Gonzalez she pulled the cousin away from her friend and the cousin fled the scene.
Police took pictures of the victim before Johnston Rescue treated him for a minor head injury before transporting him to Rhode Island Hospital for evaluation.
Gonzalez said they identified the suspect as Robert Vingi, 21, of 9 Noto Dr. in North Providence. North Providence Police went to that address but were unable to find the suspect. A warrant was drawn up for Vingi’s arrest for domestic assault. Patrolman Luca Lancellotti reported that Vingi turned himself in at headquarters around 11:35 a.m. and was held for arraignment. He was later released on $1,000 personal recognizance with a no contact order concerning his cousin.

CAUGHT ON CAMERA
Patrolman Adam Parkinson reported the theft of $435 in cash from an employee’s purse at the Tri-Town Health Center on Hartford Avenue on March 22. Parkinson said he spoke with the woman who told him she came back from lunch around 12:30 p.m. and encountered a client who needed assistance and she escorted the client down the hall to the appropriate room. She said her purse was left on her desk and when she returned she saw that the purse had apparently been rifled through and, when she checked an envelope in the purse, she noticed that only $7.59 was in the envelope, leaving $435 unaccounted. She said she immediately notified her supervisor who suggested they check the surveillance video and call the police. She told Parkinson five or six other employees worked in the same area but she did not suspect them but did report that a relatively new client was seen meandering around the hallway in the video and was seen going into her office. Parkinson said he reviewed the video with their IT director. The IT said the camera was motion activated, which made the video “jumpy” when someone walked into focus. He also noted that the time stamp on the video had not yet been adjusted for daylight saving time and showed 11:29 instead of 12:29 but it did show the new client enter her office and the door closing behind him and him coming out of the office and leaving the door open. The woman said there was no window open to suggest that a breeze had closed the door and that she never closes her door.
The woman explained to Parkinson that, due to patient confidentiality rules, she could not disclose what the client was being treated for or give him his address because she believed he was homeless but she could give him a phone number. Parkinson said he tried the number with no success but he was familiar with the man and had seen him in the area and a detective who reviewed the video said he recognized the man and said he had been asked to disperse him from a meeting at the center the same day around 5 p.m. and tell him he would be trespassing if he returned but did not know he was a suspect in a larceny at that time.
Parkinson reported that he saw the man the next day and told him he was wanted for questioning and he agreed to go to headquarters for an interview. Det. Thomas Dwyer interviewed the man and said he was confused and that he had a number of mental health issues and could not say if he was at the center the day before. But he did say he was living in a group home and gave Dwyer the name of his caseworker, who agreed to come to the station. The caseworker confirmed that the man had issues and was prescribed a number of medications and was known to panhandle and for “removing things that he is not supposed to.” Nevertheless, the man was charged with larceny and later arraigned and released on $1,000 personal recognizance.

UNDERAGED
Patrolman Michael Protano said he and two other officers went to the Club Bebeto at 31 Greenville Ave. for a business check around 11 p.m. on March 25 when dispatch informed them that a woman who lived next door to the club saw police arrive and called dispatch and said a man who ran out of the club was hiding in her backyard. Protano said other officers arrived and he went next door and found the man lying on the ground near some cinderblocks with his head down. He was ordered to get up and show his hands and he did. He said they asked him what he was doing and he said he ran out of the bar because he was underage and told them his sister, who was a bartender at the club, had served him five beers while he was in the club. Protano said he smelled of alcohol and when they learned he was only 20 years old, they arrested him. He said he was met by a woman who said she was his sister and they arrested her for giving him the beer. Another patrolman came out of the club with a 20-year-old man who was also charged with underage drinking. Ruben David Monufar, 20, of 46 Lowell Ave. in Providence, his sister, Zully Y. Mantufar, 21, of 222 Eastwood Ave., Providence, and Herland G. Campos, 20, of 156 Longmeadow Ave. in Warwick were all taken to headquarters and charged with violating state liquor laws and later released with summonses. Protano’s reports of the incident were forwarded to the Special Services Division for possible liquor license violations by the club.