Crime & Safety

JPD Arrests Women for Theft of Spongebob Plates, Makeup, Lunch Meat

The two North Providence women — who have extensive prior arrest records — are accused of taking nail polish from a CVS and lunch meat and party plates from the Super Stop & Shop in Johnston.

 

arrested two North Providence women on charges of shoplifting and conspiracy after employees of CVS on Hartford Avenue and Super Stop & Shop on Commerce Way reported the apparent thefts.

Officers found Elizabeth L. Davis, 42, of 1969 Smith St., and Renee A. Rodrigues, 42, of 1976 Smith St., in the parking lot of the Stop & Shop on Saturday, Sept. 8, following a report of shoplifting from the CVS at 1400 Hartford Ave.

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Ptlm. Remy Mendez reported that he and two other officers went to the CVS at about 1 pm and spoke with an employee there, who said that she had witnessed Rodrigues taking nail polish bottles off a shelf and leaving the store without paying for them.

Mendez wrote that he reviewed the store's surveillance video and saw that the suspect had left the store in a white Buick.

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At about 3 pm, Ptlm. Lucan Lancellotti Jr. was checking the parking lot at the Stop & Shop for the suspect's vehicle when he spotted the white Buick identified by Mendez.

Lancellotti wrote that he saw Rodrigues walking out of the store and toward the car. When he asked whether the car was hers, Rodrigues said she was a passenger, Lancelotti noted.

According to Lancellotti's report, he noticed "numerous packages of deli meats protruding out of [Rodrigues's] pocketbook."

Rodrigues said she had not paid for the meats, and explained that she had stolen them "because I have no money and I'm hungry," Lancelotti reported.

Lancellotti also noted that he found five packages of "Spongebob Squarepants" paper plates in Rodrigues's pocketbook.

Davis later returned to the car, and Mendez and another officer responded to the scene to arrest the women.

Sgt. Matthew Benson also reported that he found Spongebob tablecloths and more paper plates in the trunk of Davis's car. The women claimed that they had taken the items from Stop & Shop in Smithfield, Benson wrote.

Officers presented the women for arraignment at the police station before Justice of the Peace Richard Finnegan, who ordered Davs released on $1,000 personal recognizance until a scheduled Sept. 19 court date.

Finnegan ordered Rodrigues held at the Adult Correctional Institutions, Cranston, until a scheduled Sept. 17 pre-trial hearing after she as unable to post bail.

According to online court records, Rodrigues pleaded no contest to a shoplifting charge brought by North Providence Police in August, and was serving one years' probation and a one-year suspended sentence at the time of her arrest.

Both women have extensive BCI records, including mutiple arrests for loitering for indecent purpose [attempted prostitution] for Rodrigues; and counterfeiting and robbery charges, and a 1991 conviction for escaping from jail for Davis.


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