Crime & Safety
Polly Wanna Reunion?
After a month without her companion, a Johnston resident is reunited with her pet parrot.
detectives reunited a Johnston resident with her 4-year-old pet parrot after the pair was separated for about a month.
Patricia Harris filed a report with the Johnston Police Department on June 25 after she allowed an acquaintance borrow the parrot for an evening.
Harris told Patrolman Adam M. Parkinson that Charlene Rigali, of West Warwick, was interested in purchasing a parrot, so Harris allowed her parrot, Conchetta, to spend the night at Rigali’s home.
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Harris stated they agreed that Rigali would return Conchetta the following day, according to the police report.
Rigali allegedly did not return Conchetta the following day, so Harris drove to West Warwick in an effort to retrieve Conchetta. Harris then
contacted the West Warwick Police Department and the ASPCA for help in the matter, according to the police report. At the end of June she turned to the Johnston Police Department for help.
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Parkinson stated in his report that he tried to contact Rigali by phone and left a voicemail for her. He also called the West Warwick Police Department and asked them to contact Rigali at her address.
On June 29, Johnston Police Detectives Thomas Dwyer and Anthony Sasso drove to Rigali’s apartment in West Warwick in an effort to locate Conchetta.
When they arrived no one answered the door, but they could see a parrot matching Conchetta’s description when they looked through the front window, according to Dwyer’s report.
Sasso called Rigali, who she said she purchased the parrot for $100, but was unable to provide paperwork. Rigali’s lawyer then called the detectives while they were outside of Rigali’s apartment and told the officers that she was returning to the apartment to give them the parrot.
Harris arrived at the scene with Conchetta’s bird cage and Conchetta was turned over to the detectives, according to the police report.
The detectives drove Conchetta back to Johnston Police Headquarters where they reunited Harris and Conchetta.
“Mrs. Harris stated Conchetta brought her love and comfort since her two previous brain tumors,” read Dwyer’s report.
Harris declined to press charges.
