The Police Log is a digest of reports filed by the

Johnston Police. Either Chief Richard S. Tamburini or Deputy Chief Gary W.

Maddocks has reviewed all reports.

CALL HOME

A woman who lives on Salina Avenue came into headquarters on

Feb. 29 to complain about a friend of her son’s who took her cell phone and

refused to return it. The woman told Patrolman Michael Edwards that the

18-year-old guest has been living in her house for about three years, has

always showed her respect and has never been in trouble until this particular

incident. She said he took the phone, a Palm Central camera-cell phone she

bought from Sprint for $399.99, two weeks before and she hasn’t seen him since.

She said he has run up a $300 phone bill since then and, when she contacted him

several times via the cell phone, he said he was not going to return it and he

was not going to pay for the phone charges he was responsible for.

The woman told Edwards she called Sprint and had the

number discontinued but she has no idea how many charges he has run up since

the last bill until March 12, when Sprint will send her an updated bill. She

also told Edwards she was not certain where his parents lived but believed he

was still working at a Tim Horton’s coffee shop on Killingly Street. Edwards

said a BCI check did not turn up any prior contacts with the 18-year-old. He

said the woman completed a witness statement and said she would file charges

against the youth. In the meantime, Edwards advised her to stay away from the

coffee shop until police located him there.

DAMAGED FENCE

Patrolman David Slinko reported he spoke with a Hunter Avenue woman

on March 1 who told him sometime between 1 and 7:30 p.m. an unknown motor

vehicle damaged her fence. Slinko said he found tire marks in the fresh snow

leading up to the fence. He said he found a piece of plastic that apparently

came from a light on the vehicle but it had no identifying marks on it. Slinko

said he checked around the surrounding area but found no vehicle consistent

with the damaged fence. The woman said she was insured but did want whoever did

the damage caught.

CHIMNEY FIRE

Patrolman Joshua Heywood said he responded to a chimney

fire at 1042 Atwood Ave.

around 1:45 a.m. on Feb. 29. He said the tenant of the house told him he and

his girlfriend were asleep when the smoke alarm went off. He said they woke the

children and got out of the house and called 911 from the driveway. Heywood

said Johnston Fire was on the scene attempting to put out the fire and the

house had minor damage inside around the chimney for a fireplace in the living

room. The tenant told him he and his girlfriend have been burning wood in the

stove to save on their heating bill on cold nights. He told Heywood the fire

was dying down when they went to bed.

The owner of the building told Heywood he was insured and

the Fire Marshal determined that the fire started when fire from the chimney

spread to the wood framing of the house. No injuries.

ANOTHER FIREPLACE

There was another fireplace blaze at 486 Greenville Ave. later on Feb. 29.

Patrolman Philip Viens said Cranston Fire was on the scene around 6:40 a.m.

Viens learned a 26-year-old nephew of the homeowner was staying in the basement

of the house while he was attending school. The owner said his nephew was from Bermuda. Viens said he spoke with their guest, who told

him he was trying to light a fire in the fireplace in the basement and went to

the garage and came back with a container of gasoline. He told Viens he began

to toss the gas on the fire to get it going when the container caught on fire

and got on some furniture. He told Viens he ran out of the basement door to

warn the others in the house.

Viens said the battalion chief told him the fire was

contained to the basement near the fireplace and some furniture and some

rafters were burnt. Viens said he told the chief what he learned from the

basement boarder and the battalion chief called the fire marshal and asked him

to come to the scene.

THEFT, IN PART

An Oak Hill man told Patrolman Paul DiMaio he was sitting

down to dinner around 11:30 p.m. when he heard a car alarm go off outside. He

said he did not believe the alarm was on one of his vehicles and continued at

dinner; until the alarm sounded for a few minutes with no one responding to it

and he ran outside and discovered the alarm was on his wife’s 2003 Nissan

Maxima. He said one of the headlights was gone and there were signs of

tampering on the other side that indicated the thief intended to take both

lights before he was interrupted. DiMaio said there was light over the garage

door that was on the whole time the lamp was being stolen, but there were no

witnesses or suspects.

CRAB LEGS LIFTED

Patrolman Luca Lancellotti responded to the Shaw’s Market

at 1493 Hartford Avenue

around 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 for a report of $94.80 worth of colossal king crab

legs reported taken from the seafood counter. The clerk said the man came in

and ordered about five and a half pounds of the legs and escaped with them.

The clerk said he wrapped the legs and the man put the

legs in the shopping basket. The clerk said he watched the man as he walked

away and saw him drop the basket in the aisle and carry the crab legs in his

arms. The clerk said the man looked back to see if he was being followed and

suddenly bolted out the door. He said the man got into a white “tricked out”

pickup truck with a lifted suspension, roll bars and dark tinted windows but

did not get the plate number. Lancellotti said he and the senior loss

prevention agent for the store reviewed video that showed the suspect’s truck

parked in the first row of the parking lot and also viewed pictures of the

suspect ordering the crab legs and briskly walk out of the store. Lancellotti

said they could not see the truck before it left because the camera panned away

from the area it was parked in.

The seafood clerk told Lancellotti the suspect was a

white male between 20 and 30 years old, dressed in a nice blue shirt and

appearing altogether clean-cut. Police are still looking for him.