Crime & Safety
Domestic Assault Suspect Ordered Held on Probation Violation
David Rossi, 29, faces felony charges after his fourth domestic violence arrest since January, 2011.
A Johnston man remains held without bail following his fourth arrest on domestic violence charges.
Johnston Police reported that officers took custody of David Rossi, 29, of 15 South Fairview St., from Smithfield Police on Oct. 5 at about 7 am after the local department issued a warrant for his arrest.
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According to Smithfield Police Capt. Michael Rheaume, an officer in that town pulled over Rossi's car at about 2 am after recording it traveling 52 mph in a 35-mph zone on Pleasant View Avenue, near the Smithfield Police Department.
The warrant stemmed from a Sept. 8 report alleging that Rossi assaulted and bit the face of his girlfriend, Rebecca George, at her home on Greenville Avenue.
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Ptlm. Jared DeAngelis reported that he spoke with George on Sept. 10 about the assault, and saw bite marks on her face that George said were from Rossi.
George also told DeAngelis that Rossi had taken her cell phone away and "threatened to beat her again is she were to contact the police."
Local officers presented Rossi for arraignment on Oct. 5 in Third District Court, Warwick, before Judge Jeanne Lafazia on charges of domestic assault, refusal to relinquish a telephone, and disorderly conduct.
The charges were filed as felonies because of Rossi's three previous convictions for domestic assault.
Lafazia ordered Rossi held on $25,000 bail, and on Oct. 11, Superior Court Magistrate John F. McBurney III ordered Rossi held without bail at the Adult Correctional Institutions, Warwick, for violating terms of probation set after his May, 2011, no-contest pleas to two counts of violating a no-contact order and an earlier charge of domestic trespassing.
Johnston Police arrested Rossi twice within five weeks in early 2011, the first time after he broke into George's home on New Year's Day, and the second after he went to her home in violation of a no-contact order on Feb. 9.
Rossi is due for a violation hearing on Oct. 18, and a pre-arraignment conference on the new charge on Dec. 7.
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