MT Hope

John Twomey 

Posted at 6:23 PM | Crime | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

What's Going On?

Shootings?  Cars Burning?

Do your wonder why the news either does not report what's going on in Mt.Hope or buries it at the bottom of another story.  I sure do.

Why do incidents go uninvestigated?  Who do you ask?

One place to start the Providence Police Department: 

You could call our District 8 Commander, and ask about the incident: the number is on the City/Police website: Phone: 243-6980  Fax: 243-6983   or you could contact him by email dschiavuilli@providenceri.com

The Providence Police Department is known to be unusually receptive and helpful to Providence residents, but do not be surprised if any police representative begins to site chapter and verse about how the crime stats are down across the board in Providence and especially in Mt. Hope.  Then ask if a Police Incident Report was generated for the car burning on Tecumseh.  Chances are you will be told to contact the Fire Department Arson Investigation Unit.  How can crime stats not be down if incidents go unreported or mis-classified? 

Just remember that that chapter and verse about crime stats comes down from above, much as the proverbial shite rolls down hill, and the proverbial fish rots from the head down.

The Providence Police Department is obsessed with manipulating the crime stats in order to convince the populace that everything is A-OK and that the Chief deserves another overpaid contract before he moves on to another lucrative position based on his resume padding in Providence.  No insult intended.

And what about the Chief's personal enabler on this matter, our overly ambitious Mayor?

Posted at 1:40 PM | Crime | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Shooting: Doyle Av. 19 Pleasant Court, Mt. Hope

Pleasant Court, along with 206 Camp Street, is one of the known drug dealing locations in Mt. Hope, and when I say "known drug dealing locations" I mean known to the Police and to the government of the City of Providence, as well as to any observent resident of Mt. Hope.

The excerpt below was tacked onto the end of a ProJo article about a murder on Smith Street near the State House.

Providence records 2nd homicide of 2010

In a separate shooting early Saturday morning, the Providence police said a 17-year-old from Central Falls was seriously injured after being shot as he walked in the Mount Hope neighborhood.

According to a police report, the police responded to 19 Pleasant Court at 1:21 a.m. Saturday and found Jordan Komhlan, of 227 Illinois Ave., Central Falls, lying on a couch with two gunshot wounds.

According to witnesses, a gray, four-door Nissan Maxima with Rhode Island plates and tinted windows traveled along Doyle Avenue near Camp Street and approached Komhlan as he walked to 19 Pleasant. Witnesses reported hearing five or six shots, and the car sped down Doyle Avenue, toward Hope Street.

Komhlan was shot in the lower back and his right leg.

Komhlan was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, and a hospital official said he remained in serious condition late Saturday afternoon.

jjordan@projo

Posted at 12:55 AM | Crime | Comments (0)

Exploding Cars at Abbott & Tecumseh

I wish to remain anonymous:

On the evening of January 12, at approximately 10PM, a car sped down Abbott Street and turned sharply onto Tecumseh Street. We heard a loud "pop," tires squeal, and then a "boom" that erupted with enough force to shake our house. We looked outside and saw that a silver Mercedes station wagon was engulfed in flames.

I am alarmed that this did not make it to any news channel!

Are we so desensitized that exploding cars in our neighborhoods is not a news story? In fact, equally appalling is turning a blind eye to such events! Please investigate!

Pictures from the event:

Burning Car

Engulfed in Flames

Firemen with Burning Vehicle

Aftermath: And in the morning it was gone; just a black mark on the street. Amost as if it never happened.

Posted at 2:55 PM | Crime | Comments (1)

Holy Disgusting Flasher Comment

WOW!!!!!!!

Holy disgusting!

Could you please share the address with the rest of us so we can be on the lookout?

I know you said the "evergreen" apartments, is that the big beige building?

Please do tell.

SORRY you had to see that, I am sure that was not what you or your dog(s) were expecting on your walk and as a dog owner and property owner on Grand View Street I know that I do not want to see that nor do any of my neighbors!

To comment or contribute click link below:

Blog Submission/Comment

Posted at 1:53 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

Been Flashed Lately?

Several weeks ago I was flashed by a man who was masturbating from a window (it was dark out so you could clearly see inside the window) of the Evergreen Apartments.

I live nearby and was walking my dogs. The man yelled until I looked to make sure I saw.

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

I hope that everyone who cares about living in a nice community can band together and out grow the drug peddling and other unsavory acts.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

To comment or contribute click link below:

Blog Submission/Comment

Posted at 8:56 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

Interesting East Side Search Terms

Below, find a few interesting search terms that people have used recently to access our Mt. Hope website.

Interesting.

I wonder what location they are referring to below? I know of only one that fits that criteria.

drug dealers who operate in broad daylight with the windows blocked with heavy doors and a garage around back where drugs are peddled and is the site of public drunkenness on a daily basis

And this is very interesting. God, I love monitoring the website stats.

why? my best guess is that [...] is the only east side neighborhood with a measurable african american demographic. drug dealing and dilapidated housing clearly in violation of criminal law and housing codes simply is not tolerated in other east side neighborhoods. institutional racism? call it what you will the situation exists. is this the fault of the african american community in [...]? i think not. the embedded drug trade in [...] is embedded in the political/social institutions in [...] who have enabled the drug trade to flourish. those who are part and parcel of the drug trade who masquerade as community activists and so-called pastors. preying on their own community contributing to black on black violence. the larger african american community in [...] are victims of these entrepreneurs who prey on their own people with drugs and death.

And finally:

people marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education and now we ve got these knuckleheads walking around

And here are some miscellaneous search terms:

kevin jackson s voting record providence

street home to notorious drug dealers who operate in broad daylight with the

brown sex powder party

bad student sexparty

forced to strip home invasion

providence apple crisp miriam hospital

kevin jackson city councilman landsaping money providence

she was forced to strip

how can i put a stop to my drug dealing kids father

embezzlement providence tax collector s office

brown university sex parties

can a girl get pregnant at the age of 17 in providence is it illegal

evil female pirate

mount misery hellhound

cracker

Posted at 12:59 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

East Side Drug Tips Roll In #2

The tips continue to roll in as we make progress in identifing the most prominent drug dealing locations in Mt. Hope.

This location is the Evergreen Apartments on the corner of Woodbine and Camp Street. Our sources tell us that a dealer comes out that back door on Woodbine and delivers to cars that pull up at the foot of the steps, probably arranged by cell phone.

This locaton is on Pleasant Street. The site of several shootings.

Corner of Evergreen and Camp Streets. Constant drug trafficing and fencing of stolen goods. They go around to the parking lot of the Evergreen Apartments on the corner of Camp and Woodbine to consumate their deals.

Just behind the kiddie playground in Billy Taylor Park. Dealers hang there and meet up on Camp to complete their sales. Within shouting distance of the District 8 Substation.

Alpin Court on Pleasant Street. A dead end.

Billy Taylor Park, near 124 Camp Street: they hang under the trees and consumate their drug deals on the surrounding streets, Locust, Duncan, Knowles, and Jenkins.

Posted at 5:20 AM | Crime | Comments (0)

East Side Open Air Drug Market Back!

Yes! The Open Air Drug Market is Back!

Just drive down Camp Street in the evening, and you will see at least 4 locations where drug dealers ply their trade right in front of their houses without fear of the police!

After a relatively quiet summer on the drug front, a virtual explosion of drug dealing has taken place on the East Side in Mt. Hope.

The air changes, the energy feels different, the noise level increases, the number of intoxicated people on the streets increases,
the anxiety level goes up, and the potential for violence hangs in the air.

You know it! You feel it! You see it!

Let's Stop it Before it Gains Traction!

Click on the link below to send in your anonymous tip on Mt. Hope Drug Dealing. Confidentiality guaranteed!

Anonymous Tips

Coming soon: a dedicated phone line for crime tips!

Posted at 9:24 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

Mt. Hope Rises Up Against Drug Trade!

The Drug Trade is almost defeated in Mt. Hope, almost wiped out as far as street level dealing is concerned. Our community has come a long way. Yet a few pockets of in-your-face lawlessness remain and they bring down the entire community.

Mt. Hope needs your help in bringing down the remaining criminal Kingpins and dealers. Send us your Anonymous Tips.

Anonymous Tips

You know where they are, where they deal and you may even know who they are.

You're timid, afraid, that is very understandable. I'm a timid individual myself, and yes, I confess to being afraid at times. Yet some define courage as being able to overcome your fear, as opposed to courage as reckless abandon without regard for your safety or your neighbors. Prudence is the better part of valor, they say, and I agree.

If you wish to play a courageous role in ridding Mt. Hope of the remnants of the pesky Drug Trade and you have information you wish to share, yet you wish to remain prudently anonymous, there is a way for you to contribute.

Click the link below and share your information: you will be kept anonymous and your information will be used to bring the remaining drug traffickers in Mt. Hope to justice.

Location, names, times, descriptions, license plate numbers, addresses, methods of operation, whatever you know is welcome information.

Anonymous Tips

Posted at 8:45 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

To Serve & Protect & to Manipulate Statistics

Re: Manipulation of Crime Stats by Providence Department

How disgraceful that the residents of Providence can not even trust the Chief of Police!

Crime stats are an important indicator of how the police are doing in their job to serve and protect.

If the rank and file of the police department do not trust the police command how can the citizens trust the police?

Do our District 8 Police worry about how to report criminal incidents?

Do our District 8 Police feel pressure from the brass to "fudge" the reports?

I remember reading somewhere in reference to the Police Department that "A fish rots from the head down" is that still the problem with our police department?

Thank you,

Dennis Cregg

Posted at 11:22 AM | Crime | Comments (0)

Why Can't It Happen Here?

There's a very good story in today's Providence Sunday Journal about how the Lockwood neighborhood in Upper South Providence was able to eliminate decades of drug-dealing and other crimes.

The neighbors worked with the Providence Police to rid Lockwood of the dealers. A year ago, the police organized a massive drug sting that resulted in more than 100 arrests. A year later, the neighborhood remains crime-free.

Let's get the District 8 lieutenant to do the same thing in Mt. Hope.

Peter Cassels

Read the ProJo story here: Click the underlined link below for ProJo story with pictures, interactive features, and related story links.

Calm comes to Lockwood neighborhood

The police help transform Providence’s Lockwood neighborhood, once known for drug-dealing.

10:30 AM EST on Monday, January 7, 2008

By Amanda Milkovits
Journal Staff Writer

Ken Cabral, who has lived in the Providence neighborhood for more than three decades, says the streets are now safer for the families who live there. “What the police have done is create a safe and happy community,” he says. The Providence Journal / Kris Craig
PROVIDENCE — In the 34 years he’s lived in this Upper South Providence neighborhood, Ken Cabral has put up with the drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps who hung around the streets as if they owned them.

Now, he and other residents are becoming accustomed to something they never knew here before — peace and quiet.

For more than a generation, the triangle-shaped neighborhood of single- and multifamily houses, high-rises and housing projects has been where the drug dealers ruled the streets. The Lockwood neighborhood, named for the street cutting through its middle, was known for gun violence, crime and street-level dealers. Frequent police patrols could not chase them away.

Route 95 whisked drug customers easily on and off Pine Street, known locally as “crack highway.” With Crossroads at one end and Amos House at the other, dealers had walk-in customers looking for their daily fix. Children were recruited as lookouts and drug runners. Gunfire in the streets drove people indoors.

Then, about a year ago, the Providence police launched a crime-fighting initiative that combined an intense drug sting with community policing. The police arrested 104 drug dealers — about a third from the Lockwood neighborhood — and toppled a drug-dealing hierarchy. After the arrests, the police stepped up patrols in the neighborhood and worked with the residents to keep crime down. And, with the hope of winning the trust of the community, the police agreed to give a handful of nonviolent drug dealers a second chance, by promising not to charge them with the felony drug crimes if they stayed away from the streets and went back to school or found jobs.

A year later, the street-level drug dealing hasn’t returned. The steps outside the small markets, where dealers used to hang around four and five deep, are vacant of trouble. The street corners where drug dealers ran to stopping cars are clear. Children, instead of drug dealers, are using the playground.

“I see more people walking, more children in my neighborhood, and that’s good,” said Joe Vileno Jr., chairman of the Ward 11 Democratic Committee, who’s lived on Pine Street for 27 years.

“The drug activity is virtually nil around here,” he said.

Cabral calls the changes “extraordinary,” and he credits Police Chief Dean M. Esserman and his department for making a difference. “What the police have done is create a safe and happy community,” Cabral said.

Meanwhile, many of the drug dealers who were arrested in the 2006 sting are either convicted or being prosecuted in the federal court system and facing prison, the police say. What surprises the police is that no street dealers have moved into the neighborhood to take the places of those who’ve been arrested. Drug dealing continues in other neighborhoods, even just a few blocks south of Lockwood, but the problems haven’t increased elsewhere, the police say.

In Lockwood, the number of drug-related crimes dropped from 88 in 2006 to 26 crimes last year; residents’ calls about drug crimes also dropped, from 111 in 2006 to 21 calls last year, according to statistics provided by the Providence Plan.

“Lockwood is a very different place,” said police Lt. Thomas Verdi, who heads the department’s narcotics unit. “The goal is to maintain it without experiencing an increase in other areas, and we haven’t seen [the increase].”

While the street-level dealers have disappeared, there is still crime in Lockwood. There’ve been several shootings, including the murder of a man from Fall River, who was fatally shot in August when he drove to the neighborhood to buy drugs. Two men have been charged with his murder.

At the end of the summer, the police scaled back their extra patrols in the neighborhood, said Lt. George Stamatakos, the commander for the neighborhood. “If there’s anything suspicious, people are calling and we’re responding immediately,” he said.

The number of calls has dropped 58 percent since the initiative began. The most dramatic change was the decrease in calls to disperse people hanging around, from 339 calls in 2005 to just 46 last year. The reason, residents say, is that the drug dealers aren’t hanging around anymore.

The police are still cautious about calling the initiative a success. “A year is not long enough,” Verdi said. “If we’re sitting here next year and we haven’t seen an increase in crime as a whole, then we can say it’s a success.”

There are other reasons for changes in the neighborhood.

A nearby nightclub with a reputation for attracting violence closed early last year after a triple shooting and murder in December 2006. Dozens of attractive new houses, built through nonprofit organizations, are attracting families to the neighborhood.

George Lindsey, director at the Davey Lopes Center in the neighborhood, and street workers under Teny Gross at the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, have mediated in feuds and disturbances to prevent more violence.

Last week, one street worker told Gross that residents told him about a person in the neighborhood looking for drugs. “They said he looked so funny and out of place,” Gross said. “It’s an area that was constantly busy [with drug dealing] and now it’s had the air sucked out of it.”

Esserman is talking about attempting the same initiative in another neighborhood. Providence is one of a few cities in the nation to try the initiative, which was developed by a college professor who’d helped produce Boston’s anti-gang project in the mid-1990s. David Kennedy, now the head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, believed that having the police and community work together to rid their neighborhood of open drug dealing could have lasting effects in reducing violence and crime.

Lockwood residents say the program has had lasting effects — a renewed trust in the police and a growing sense of community.

“One of the things that’s so important is the relationship the police have created with the neighbors,” said Cabral, a former North Providence police officer. “They’re recognizing the difference between the kids that are doing bad and those kids just trying to have fun in their neighborhood. I’ve never seen this in any community in the city of Providence.”

In the summer of 2006, it was business as usual, with dealers selling crack on every corner. One night, the police and local politicians staged a community rally to demand safer streets. The anti-crime placards left behind were defaced by the roaming bands of drug dealers, Vileno said.

This summer was different. Neighbors were outside. The dealers were gone.

“I think the people have become comfortable. They’re getting to know their own neighbors,” said Cabral. “Kids get to play outside their homes, and if the kids do something wrong, the neighbors will say, ‘I’m telling your parents.’

“Right now, I hope it’ll continue,” he said. “It’s up to all of us.”

amilkovi@projo.com

Posted at 6:51 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

Murder in Mt. Hope!

Another tragedy strikes Mt. Hope. Aother violent shooting death most likely connected to the embedded drug trade in Mt. Hope. A reader sent this tip to the blog this morning.

The corner of Jenkins and Knowles, where the victim was found, lies only a stone's throw from my residence, so in answer to the poll question about whether one feels safe in Mt. Hope the only logical answer is "No".

Young man shot to death in Providence

11:35 AM EST on Saturday, December 22, 2007

PROVIDENCE -- The police are investigating the 14th homicide in the city today after responding last night to a shooting in the Mount Hope neighborhood on the East Side of the city.

Providence police arrived at 9:46 p.m. and found the man lying in the road at Knowles and Jenkins streets, suffering from gunshot wounds, a police news release said. He was taken by rescue to Rhode Island Hospital, but died a short time later.

The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of his family.

-- Journal staff

Posted at 1:58 PM | Crime | Comments (0)

Mt. Hope High Speed Chase

On Wednesday night I was nearly run over by a car being chased by police at Hope and Doyle. I was walking down Hope Street and crossed Doyle Avenue with the green light, as did another pedestrian walking opposite me. All of a sudden a grey car ran the red light ( being chased by two police cars,) got hit by one car in the intersection (who had a green light) and then spun around, hitting the pedestrian I had just passed and another car waiting at the light on Doyle. The car then took off down Hope Street with the cop cars tailing. Apparently it ended up coming back down Camp Street and crashing through the fence at the MLK elementary. The driver was supposedly a suspect in the recent house break-ins on the East Side.

Adam

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Posted at 11:08 AM | Crime | Comments (0)

Safety Survey

Mt. Hope Safety

Do You Feel Safe from Crime in Mt. Hope?

Yes No!

View Result

Free Polls

Vote early and often for this poll will come down in a few days. - - *** Use this link to post an entry to this website: use the "comments tab" to comment on an existing post. Make a Blog Entry Posted at 10:32 PM | Crime | Comments (0) Be Careful Out There (and at Home)! ProJo's account of the scary break-ins on College Hill. Rash of break-ins has residents worried 01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 By Gregory Smith Journal Staff Writer PROVIDENCE — Dylan Cyr was in his basement bedroom in a College Hill triple-decker about two weeks ago when he heard the doorbell ringing continuously and then a loud crash. Cyr, 20, came upstairs and encountered a large man forcing his way through the front door, according to a police report. He tried unsuccessfully to push the intruder back out the door. The man pulled a knife and swung it at Cyr. He missed, Cyr told the police, but he kicked Cyr in the face, knocking him to the floor. Cyr heard a second man call out, “Hold him down” and the sound of his television set being pulled from its stand. This unusually violent break-in just before 8 a.m. Nov. 28 and two other East Side break-ins are now the focus of a police investigation. And they were the main topic of discussion at a College Hill neighborhood meeting last week. In all three incidents, someone was home when the thieves broke in. “Whether the suspects knew [the houses] were occupied, probably not,” said Lt. Paul Campbell, commander of police District 9, which encompasses the southern part of the East Side. Cyr suffered a broken tooth and scratches on his face. After the two men left his apartment at 3 Jenckes St., two landscapers at a nearby house watched as the men went to a parked car, removed the rear seat, left the seat on the sidewalk and drove away with Cyr’s TV tucked into the space where the seat used to be. “There is an intensive investigation that is being led by Detective [William] Dwyer,” said Maj. Stephen Campbell, commander of the police investigative division. The neighborhood meeting Wednesday in a meeting room at the Rhode Island School of Design was an effort of Campbell, City Councilman Cliff Wood, D-Ward 2, and a few residents. More than 75 residents came to the session, which was intended to inform them about the crimes and the police response, and to begin a discussion about the possibility of creating a neighborhood crime watch, according to Campbell. They left, the lieutenant said yesterday, feeling safer, better informed and better connected to their neighbors. A substantial police contingent was on hand, which included Police Chief Dean M. Esserman, Capt. William Campbell, detectives Dwyer and Angelo A’Vant, Sgt. Daniel Gannon and patrolmen Jimmy Lamboy, Joshua Greeno and Ricky Piccirillo. There were two earlier break-ins, according to the police, including an incident in which homeowner Stephen M. Viera, 39, of 89 Halsey St., College Hill, was upstairs in his home shortly before 11:30 a.m., Nov. 23, when he heard the sound of glass breaking downstairs. An astounded Viera, who called 911, saw two men in their 20s stealing his 48-inch LCD television set. The intruders wielded a wooden railroad tie to break in the front door. In both the Nov. 23 and Nov. 28 break-ins, the thieves used stolen cars, according to Campbell. In the Cyr case, the car was found abandoned outside the Petco store at 585 N. Main St. The police used a VIN number engraved on the discarded rear seat to confirm that it was the vehicle used in the break-in. The stolen car belongs to Stephanie Lee, a RISD student from Long Island, N.Y., according to the police. She did not know it had been stolen until an officer contacted her. In the Viera case, the car was stolen in Attleboro and it was found. In the third case, James DeRentis, 46, was at home at 154 Arlington Ave., also on the East Side, shortly before 9 p.m. Nov. 26 when he, too, heard the sound of breaking glass. There was no intruder, but a thief broke the window with rocks and managed to reach through and get away with two laptop computers. Campbell said the police believe the crimes were done by the same men because of the similarity of the methods, the descriptions of the suspects and the locations where the two stolen cars were abandoned. gsmith@projo.com Posted at 5:56 PM | Crime | Comments (0) Armed Violence at Brown / Mt Hope Carjacking In Mt. Hope (excerpt from article below) •A robbery and carjacking at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on Jenkins Street, Mount Hope. Matthew Bevilacqua, 18, of 106 Jenkins, told the police that he was a passenger in a car and that a man with a gun tucked into his waistband ordered Bevilacqua and the driver, identified only as Calvin, out of the car. The robber took Bevilacqua’s cell phone and keys and stole the car. Neither the man identified as Calvin, nor the vehicle could be located, the police said. Brown student mugged at gunpoint 01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 PROVIDENCE — The police are investigating several robberies that occurred in recent days, including the gunpoint mugging of a student on the Brown University campus in which one of the attackers left a shoeprint on the face of the student. Ethan Curren, 19, of 27 Brown St., was walking on the campus behind a building at 182 George St. shortly after 1 a.m. Friday when he was set upon by a group of young males, according to the city and university police. One man approached him on the pretext of asking directions to Thayer Street, but he then pressed a handgun to Curren’s neck. Curren said he was told to “take off everything,” but that he punched the gunman in the face. The group then attacked him en masse, he told the police, and he was knocked to the ground and struck numerous times. His assailants stole his wallet, which contained $80 to $100 and credit cards, a knife and his backpack, which contained a cell phone and textbooks. The books later were recovered in Cranston. Curren suffered cuts and bruises and a possible bone fracture. He was treated at Rhode Island Hospital. The university Department of Public Safety issued a crime alert to the Brown community and reiterated its longstanding advice about walking after dark. The alert said, in part: “The intent of most criminals is to target individuals who appear vulnerable, isolated and preoccupied. Initiating conversation, such as asking for directions or money, is often a tactic used by criminals to create an opportunity for an assault or robbery.” Other incidents that are under investigation are: •A purse-snatching at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the Super Stop & Shop supermarket, 850 Manton Ave., Manton. Lindsey Procaccini, 32, of Cranston, said she was approaching her parked car when someone in another car reached out and grabbed her pocketbook. Procaccini clung to the pocketbook and as the car dragged her a short distance, she suffered cuts and scrapes on her hands, knees and hip before she lost her grip, the police said. The pocketbook contained her wallet, cell phone and medication. Procaccini was treated at Roger Williams Hospital. •An attempted robbery at about 5 p.m. Sunday in the vicinity of Greeley and Charles streets in the North End. Cerenia Augosto, 46, of 48 Opper St., which is near Greeley and Charles, said she was coming from a friend’s house when a man wearing a mask accosted her with a gun and demanded money. Augosto ran to her house and the would-be robber got nothing, according to the police. Officers later arrested Ryan Martin, 18, of Cranston, and he was charged with assault with intent to rob. •A robbery and carjacking at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on Jenkins Street, Mount Hope. Matthew Bevilacqua, 18, of 106 Jenkins, told the police that he was a passenger in a car and that a man with a gun tucked into his waistband ordered Bevilacqua and the driver, identified only as Calvin, out of the car. The robber took Bevilacqua’s cell phone and keys and stole the car. Neither the man identified as Calvin, nor the vehicle could be located, the police said. Posted at 5:51 PM | Crime | Comments (0) Doyle Shooting and Home Invasion Another illustration of the increase in crime in the area is the recent shooting near Camp & Doyle which made the TV news but which ProJo did not report on and this scary home invasion from late October. Couple these with the recent scary home invasions and armed robbery and beatings on College Hill, articles to come soon, and you will begin to get the picture. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 arrested in Doyle Ave. home invasion 01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 By Gregory Smith Journal Staff Writer PROVIDENCE — The police have acknowledged that an armed home invasion occurred on Doyle Avenue on the East Side 2 1/2 weeks ago and that a woman was forced to disrobe during the crime. But three of the four alleged culprits — they are members of a West End street gang — have been arrested and are being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions, Maj. Stephen Campbell said yesterday. “This is a very serious crime,” Campbell said. “It was a difficult investigation because there wasn’t a clear direction” to take. “It was really just keen investigative work” that paid off in good arrests. Fingerprints taken at the scene of another break-in, in Silver Lake, led to the victims’ identification of part-time janitor Dennis J. McDonald, 17, of 383 Sayles St., South Providence, as a youth who wielded a handgun during the home invasion, according to Campbell. The incident occurred shortly before 10 p.m. Oct. 12. Two of the three tenants of a second-floor apartment at 38 Doyle Ave., Michael Fetta and his girlfriend, Mia Shaffer, both 24, were at home when they heard a crash. Four men had kicked in the rear door of the apartment, one of whom was armed with a gun. They were looking for money, drugs and drug paraphernalia, the police said, but could not find any. Asked if there actually were drugs in the apartment, Campbell declined comment. Instead, the invaders settled for electronic equipment, according to a police report. Fetta was forced to lie face down on the floor, and Shaffer fled to a bedroom and locked herself in. That door was kicked in, too, and Shaffer was taken to another bedroom, where she was forced to strip naked and then join Fetta face-down on the floor, the police related. Shaffer was in fear for her life but she was not sexually assaulted, Campbell said, and detectives do not know why she was forced to strip. One robber, according to detectives, repeatedly demanded of Shaffer, “Any other merchandise? Any other merchandise?” After about 10 minutes of ransacking the apartment, the robbers forced the pair into a closet, uninjured, and shoved some things in front of the closet in order to make it difficult to open the door. When they believed the robbers had left, Fetta and Shaffer pushed their way out of the closet and ran to the McDonald’s restaurant at the University Heights shopping center, where they called the police. Among the items listed as stolen were a desktop computer with 20-inch monitor, a laptop computer, an external computer hard drive, two cell phones, two iPods, a digital video camera and a PlayStation 2 console. Neither victim knew the robbers, according to detectives, but a break-in two days later, at 20 Sanford St., Silver Lake, led to the solution of the crime, Campbell said. Detectives Patricia Cornell and Thomas Masse lifted fingerprints at the scene of the break-in that were said to be those of McDonald, a member of the Hanover Street Boyz gang whose appearance matched the description of one of the East Side robbers. When Fetta and Shaffer were shown a photo array, they identified McDonald, Campbell related. Two patrol officers went to the Fox Point Recreation Center, where McDonald was working as a janitor, and arrested him. He was charged with first-degree robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence. McDonald also is charged with breaking and entering into the house of Marleny Batista, at 20 Sanford, where he allegedly used a pry bar to open a rear door and stole a computer game and a DVD player. Cranston police also have a charge of breaking and entering pending against McDonald. Further investigation led to the apprehension of two more suspects in the East Side invasion who are alleged Hanover Street Boyz: Moises A. “Paco” Perez, 19, whose home address was not immediately available, who was arrested at his job at the Lowe’s home improvement store in Cranston, where he mixes paint; and Kenneth Minier, 17, of 204 Longfellow St., Wanskuck, who was arrested at his home. Both were charged with first-degree robbery, burglary, possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, and conspiracy to commit burglary. The police have recovered a firearm but Campbell said it remains to be determined whether it was the one used in the home invasion. The major praised the work of Detective Sgt. William Dwyer, who is leading the investigation, Detective Angelo A’Vant and others assisting in the investigation, and said it was a prime example of intradepartmental coordination, in which officers pool their knowledge about the criminal element. gsmith@projo.com Posted at 4:48 PM | Crime | Comments (0) Archived Weblog Entries VIEW BY CATEGORY: Community Crime GCCC Issues Politics Sports The Arts Website VIEW BY MONTH: May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 November 2009 October 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 March 2005 February 2005 All Recent Posts Got something to say? 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