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Crime & Safety

Police Log: Aug. 24 to Aug. 26

This is a summary of reports provided to JohnstonPatch by the Johnston Police Department for August 24 to August 26. It does not indicate a conviction.

Stealing from relatives:

arrested Joseph L. Lentini, 27, of 57 Clement St., Cranston, on Aug. 24 on a charge of larceny over $500. The victim’s father filed a larceny complaint at Johnston Police Headquarters
on May 27. He told Ptlm. Mark Bairos that Lentini was a relative who had access to his home. A witness saw Lentini in the victim’s room standing near the victim’s jewelry box. 

When the victim returned to her room, she discovered that the jewelry left on the jewelry box and inside the jewelry box was gone. The victim’s father called Lentini and told him he was going to bring the jewelry box to police headquarters to be dusted for finger prints and asked him if there was anything Lentini had to tell him.

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Lentini allegedly asked him not to go to the police and that he stole the jewelry and pawned it, according to Bairos’ report.

Johnston Det. Raymond Peters processed the jewelry box for finger prints and Bairos learned through a background check that Lentini had a previous charge for felony larceny from Smithfield on Aug. 3, 2010. Johnston Det. Thomas Dwyer contacted Lentini and asked him to come to police headquarters. Lentini allegedly denied the request, and stated that he told the victim’s father where he pawned the jewelry, according to the police report.

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Dwyer told Lentini that police went to the jewelry store and that there was no record of him pawning the jewelry there. Lentini allegedly replied: “Well maybe I pawned it somewhere else. I don’t know.”

Lentini disconnected the call shortly after.

On July 27, Johnston Det. Joshua Heywood reported the state crime lab determined that a finger print on the jewelry box matched Lentini’s. Detectives made many attempts to locate Lentini but were unsuccessful. On Aug. 24, Dwyer left a message with Lentini’s attorney notifying the attorney that Lentini had a pre-trial conference at Superior Court. Dwyer also faxed a copy of the arrest warrant to the Superior Court Sheriffs. Lentini turned himself in at 4 p.m. and was held pending arraignment.

Arrested for larceny of metal:

Lt. Robert Abbruzzese, Sgt. David Alverson, and Ptlmn. Luca Lancellotti and David Loffler responded to a call for a possible larceny in progress at 45 River Ave. on Aug. 24. When the officers arrived, two men were allegedly moving pieces of metal into the back of black and red pickup truck. Loffler ordered the two men, later identified as Evan Viquiert and Luke L. Lucini, to stop what they were doing and place their hands on the truck, according to Loffler’s report. Both men allegedly stated they did not have permission to be on the property and they were collecting the metal to scrap. They also stated they did not know who the metal belonged to and they planned to scrap it later.

The owner of the property identified items in the back of the truck that
belonged to him, estimated at about $5,000 in value. Viquiert, 25, of 67 Pond St., Cranston, was arrested on a charge of larceny over $500 and conspiracy. Luke L. Lucini, 26, of 307 Northup St., Cranston, was arrested on a charge of larceny over $500, possession of marijuana, first offense, and conspiracy.

DUI arrest:

Johnston Police arrested William P. Persico, 53, on a charge of driving under the influence of liquor or drugs, first offense, with BAC of .10 to .15 following a traffic stop on Aug. 26.

A witness called the statiopn and said he saw he saw beer cans falling out of a person’s car, and that the person appeared to be intoxicated.

Capt. Marc Boisvert stopped the driver on Atwood Avenue for driving erratically. Patrolmen Michael Protano and Derek Parascandolo responded to assist Boisvert. Protano asked the driver, later identified as Persico, where he was going. He stated that the passenger was the one driving and not him. He then admitted to being the driver
and said he didn’t want to get into trouble, according to the police report.

Persico allegedly spoke slowly with slurred speech, and admitted to drinking four beers at his home between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. He was stopped at about 5 p.m. Persico consented to a field sobriety test and failed — a Breathalyzer test showed a .120 BAC.

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